AI Moderated Interviewer is an AI agent that leverages Voice AI to conduct moderated user interviews on demand, transforming how research is conducted at scale.
It uses your prepared discussion guide to interview participants. So, you have flexibility to create everything from screener interviews to usability tests and in-depth conversations. It can lead dynamic conversations with many participants at once.
The interviewer is completely integrated into your Marvin workflow. You can create a moderated session, store interviews, and analyze them — all in one place.
Which Marvin plans have access to AI Moderated interviewer
For a limited period, AI Moderated Interviewer is available to users on all plans. Users on the Free plan can conduct to 5 interviews. Users on Standard and Enterprise plans can currently run an unlimited number of interviews.
Admins and Contributors on all plans can set up and manage interviews.
When should I use AI Moderated interviewer?
AI Moderated Interviewer is ideal for teams that need to collect high-quality customer feedback at scale — even with limited resources. You can use it to conduct screeners, in-depth interviews, and even run usability tests where participants share their screen and give feedback on prototypes.
The AI moderator conducts interviews whenever participants are available. They just need to visit the link to begin the interview by. With this, you can collect feedback from participants across time zones in a short period of time.
The interviewer can also interview people in over 40 languages. Augment the work your experienced researchers can do on their own.
The AI does not restrict participants to predefined responses, so you can gain richer insights than surveys or unmoderated sessions. It asks follow-up questions, so you get more context and clarity.
Participants have time to think about their responses, making the process stress-free. They may also feel more comfortable providing frank or critical feedback to an AI.
How does AI Moderated Interviewer work?
AI Moderated Interviewer conducts interviews based on the discussion guide you prepare. The AI interviewer won’t repeat questions word for word, but instead adapt to participant responses. You can also link a prototype to an interview. Participants can explore designs at their own pace and answer questions about their experience when the AI moderator interviews them.
You can control what details you collect from participants — name, email, video recording, etc. Check the step-by-step guide below for more details.
Once you customize your session, Marvin will create a link. Share this with participants via email or any other channel. Participants can begin the interview whenever they are available.
Marvin will store each complete interview in your project. You can make notes, add labels, and use Ask AI — just like any other interview. Combine this information with other user feedback in your repository to match research goals.
Try the AI Moderated Interviewer in a short demo.
How do I set up an AI-moderated session?
You can customize each interview format based on your study. You have flexibility to set an end time and response limit, add a legal disclaimer, change the AI voice, and lots more.
Create a new interview
Locate the project in which you want to store interviews. Select “AI-moderated session” under “Add new files”.
General info (logo, topic, and participant details)
Logo: Add your company’s logo and the name of the person requesting the interview.
Topic: Mention the topic of the interview. This will be visible to participants.
Participant details and video settings: Decide whether you want to make it mandatory for participants to share their video, name, and email.
AI Moderator Settings (select response type, AI voice, add research goals)
Participant responses: You can choose how participants record their responses during an interview. You can either record the entire conversation (Real-time conversation), or let participants use push-to-record (Turn-based responses) to answer only when they’re ready.
We recommend enabling push-to-record responses if you expect participants to be in noisy environments during the interview.
Participants can press the space bar to indicate when they're ready to record and when they've finished adding a response.
AI voice: Choose between multiple AI voices and accents for the interviewer’s voice. Also decide if you want to show subtitles for each question the AI moderator asks
Research goals: You can list your research goals, so the AI interviewer knows what kind of insights you want to gather from the interviews. It'll use the context you provide to probe further and make the conversation more natural.
Screen share: By default, all participants will also be able to share their screen during the interview. Please specify guidelines around screen sharing in the discussion guide/interview details/compliance and legal section so that participants do not share sensitive information.
In case participants mistakenly share data that your organization is not allowed to collect, you can remove sensitive and personally identifiable information after the recording.
Once you've added in all the mandatory information, you can also test the interview as a participant. Feel free to tweak it before creating and finalizing with participants.
Add a discussion guide (Add your questions)
Choose a guide: You can add any existing discussion guide in your project for the interview. Or, you can create one for the interview by selecting "Create blank new discussion guide".
You may also use "Choose from existing templates".
If you're creating your own discussion guide for an AI moderated session, here are some guidelines:
Add a “/” before each question.
Add questions in the order in which you want the AI interviewer to ask them
Include context or instructions for AI Moderated Interviewer. For example, how to greet, set the agenda for the interview, etc.
If you need to ask a conditional question, specify this in the instructions. For example, “Only ask the next question if the user prefers movies over short-form content.”
Follow-up for each question: For each question, you can customize how much the AI Moderated Interviewer probes participants. Set it to "Probe a little" or "Probe more" for questions that are key to gathering the right insights.
Link a prototype (from Figma, Lovable, or a public URL)
You can use AI moderated interviews to get early feedback on prototypes. All you need to do is add a prototype or website link and include the questions you want to ask users after they've explored the designs.
Marvin will record participants' screens as they explore the prototype during the session. Once they're ready, the AI moderator will ask the questions you specified.
To include a prototype, select "Add Prototype" in the toolbar in the Discussion guide tab.
You may add a title to the prototype. Participants will see this title, so choose one accordingly. Paste the Figma, Lovable or website link under "Prototype link".
The Figma link must have "/proto" in the URL. It should look something like this:
https://www.figma.com/proto/XXXXX
Make sure access to the Figma and Lovable prototypes is set to public and does not require login or SSO.
Some websites may not allow links to be embedded for testing. In such cases, you'll see an error saying that the URL is not supported.
All questions about the prototype must be included under "Add questions". The AI moderator will use this a signal to ask questions only after participants have explored the link.
Note: Participants cannot test prototypes on mobile browsers as these do not permit screen sharing. Please ask participants to use a desktop browser for the interview. They will see an error message if they access the link from their mobile browser.
Advanced settings (set end date, response limit, legal disclaimer, and redirects)
Compliance & Legal: List any policies or terms and conditions you want to show participants. They will mandatorily have to read these and select "I understand" before they can begin the interview.
Add participant information to Research Panel: You can choose to add all participant details to the Research Panel. You can view these records in the "Participants" tab and the repository Research Panel.
Add an end date to your interview: You can add a cutoff date and time to accept responses to the interview. Enable this when your study has a deadline. A participant must start their interview before the cutoff time.
Once the time is past, anyone trying to access the link will see a message saying that no more responses are being accepted.
You can simultaneously add a response limit too. The link is disabled as soon as either of the limits is reached.
You can modify the time limit from the interview settings even after the link has been shared with participants.
Add a response limit to your interview: You can choose to accept a fixed number of responses for the interview*. Use this when you're offering incentives to participants.
*Currently, a single participant may submit multiple responses.
Once the limit is reached, Marvin will automatically disable the link. Anyone trying to access the link will see a message saying that no more responses are being accepted.
You can simultaneously add a time limit too. The link is disabled as soon as either of the limits is reached. Sessions already in progress when the limit is hit will be completed normally.
You can modify the response limit from the interview settings even after the link has been shared with participants.
Redirect participants: You may redirect participants to any site to share resources, collect feedback, or guide next steps.
It's also a great way to manage incentives when you recruit participants through an external panel provider. Most panel providers have an option to track participant progress by adding unique identifiers to the interview URL.
Here's how you can set it up:
Copy the interview link in Marvin.
Head over to your panel provider to add unique identifiers to the interview URL. For example, if you use User Interviews, you can add a tracking ID parameter to the URL. Use the panel provider to distribute this link with identifiers to all participants.
Navigate back to Marvin. Now, under the "Redirect participants" field, add the URL to which you want to redirect participants at the end of the interview. This URL is different from the interview link.
Once participants complete the interview, Marvin will automatically add the unique identifier or tracking ID for each participant to the redirect URL.
You can do this for any panel provider that supports secure redirects, such as Disqo. Please check the documentation for the panel provider to learn how to add a tracking ID to the interview URL.
Share link with participants
Once you've added all details, Click “Create” to generate the interview link. Copy and share it via email or any other channel. You can send it to as many participants as you need. Participants can test prototypes from desktop browsers but not mobile browsers. They will be prompted to switch to a compatible device or browser if they access the link on their phone.
If you know that some participants may attempt the interview through an unstable connection or VPN, share a revised link that enables a fallback connection method for video and audio. To create the revised link, add ?use_ice_servers=true to the end of original interview URL.
For example, if your interview link is: https://app.heymarvin.com/interview/X30jglub/
Please revise it to: https://app.heymarvin.com/interview/X30jglub/?use_ice_servers=true while sharing with participants who may have unstable connections.
You can edit and manage AI moderated interviews at any time. Locate “Manage” in the selected project.
Marvin will store all completed interviews in the selected project. When you want to stop collecting responses, turn the “Active” toggle to off.
That’s it! You’re all set to use AI Moderated Interviewer.
Write to us at [email protected] with any questions or feedback.
How is the participant experience?
When participants click the link, they'll see the name of the requester, and fields to add their details (based on the settings you picked while creating the interview).
Based on their browser settings, they may have to grant the AI Interviewer access to their camera and mic. They cannot proceed without at least mic access.
During the interview, participants can toggle their video and audio, push to talk (if enabled), share their screen, and end the session. They can also see and hear the AI moderator when it asks a question or responds to their answers.
Participants may share their screen when they click the "Share screen" button next to the mic controls. Based on their device and browser settings, they may have to grant access before they can share their entire screen, a window, or a tab.
Please specify guidelines around screen sharing in the discussion guide/interview details/compliance and legal section so that participants do not share sensitive information.
In case participants mistakenly share data that your organization is not allowed to collect, you can remove sensitive and personally identifiable information after the recording.
They'll see a notification and/or the "Share screen" button will turn green when their screen is shared.
Participants can end the session once they've answered all questions. In case they are unable to complete the interview, they may end it earlier.
FAQs
Q: Which Marvin plans have access to AI Moderated Interviewer?
A: Marvin users on all plans can access the AI Moderated Interviewer.
Q: Where can I find AI Moderated Interviewer in Marvin?
A: You can create an AI moderated session in any project, under “+ Add New files”.
Q: How can I set up a discussion guide for an AI Moderated Interviewer session?
A: You can use any existing discussion guide in the project or create a new one. Navigate to “Discussion Guides” within your project to review, edit, or create.
Q. What is the participant experience like?
A. Copy the interview link and share it with participants over email or any other platform. You’ll find details of all AI moderated interviews in your project under “Manage”.
Participants can start the interview by clicking the link whenever they are ready. The AI interviewer follows the research discussion guide, responds to participants’ answers, records screen shares as participants explore prototypes, and asks follow-up questions as needed.
Q. Is there a limit to how many sessions I can create?
A. Users on Standard and Enterprise plans can create an unlimited number of sessions across projects.
Users on Free plans can create up to 5 interviews. Each completed AI moderated interview will count towards the file limit.
Q. How many times can I share a single link?
A. You can invite as many participants as you need. Just copy the link and share it via email or any other channel.
Q. Does the link to a session expire after a specific period?
A. You may set a time limit for the link to expire. If you do not enable this limit in Advanced settings, the link remains active until you decide to stop collecting responses. To do this, go to “Manage” and deactivate the link.
Q. Can I set a limit to the number of responses?
A. Yes, you can set a maximum limit for the number of responses you collect for an interview from the Advanced settings.
Q. Can the AI Moderated Interviewer conduct interviews in different languages?
A. The AI moderator will begin asking questions based on the language of the discussion guide. If the participant responds in a different language, the moderator will switch to the participant’s language if Marvin already supports that language.
Q. Can a participant choose to skip a question?
A. Yes, the participant can let the AI Moderated Interviewer know they would like to skip. It will move on to the next question.
Q. Will the AI Moderated Interviewer repeat a question that the participant has pre-emptively answered?
A. The AI moderator may ask the participant to provide more detail if the answer is unclear or incomplete.
Q. What happens if a participant goes off-topic during the interview?
A. Much like a human moderator, the AI interviewer will gently steer the conversation back to the relevant topic.
Q. Can I pause or resume an interview?
A. Participants can briefly pause the session by saying this to the AI Moderated Interviewer. If they cannot continue and want to come back to it later, they must restart. They just have to click the link when they are ready.
Q. How does the AI interviewer handle inappropriate responses?
A.The AI Moderated interviewer will steer the conversation back to the topic if the participant says something inappropriate or unrelated. Marvin won’t mention such responses in the auto-generated summary You’ll still see such responses in the recording though.
Q. What should a participant do if they are unable to access the link?
A. Participants will not be able to access prototypes on mobile browsers. Please ask them to use a desktop browser for such interviews.
In case participants may attempt the interview on an unstable connection or via VPN, they can add ?use_ice_servers=true to the interview URL. For example, if your interview link is https://app.heymarvin.com/interview/X30jglub/, ask them to try
Q. Can the same participant repeat an interview using the same link?
A. Yes, the same participant can use the same link more than once. Marvin saves these as distinct interviews in the project.
Q. What happens if a participant can only complete part of the interview due to network issues?
A. The participant must restart the interview from scratch.
Q. What happens if the participant’s audio or video is unclear or they stop responding?
A. The AI Moderated Interviewer will prompt the participant to let them know the video or audio is unclear. If the participant is still unable to respond, the AI Moderated Interviewer will end the interview.
Q. What happens after a participant completes an interview?
A. Marvin will save the interview in your project. You will receive an email with access to the session and its transcript as soon as it’s processed. Use it like any other interview. You can annotate, run AI analysis, and combine it with other research.
Q. Where can I find AI Moderated Interviewer recordings on Marvin?
A. You’ll find recordings in the project where you created the session.
Q. Can I restrict access to the interview link by adding a password or blocking certain domains?
A. Unfortunately, this is not supported at the moment. We recommend you share the link only with a verified list of participants.