Attest Explore is a new way to capture the real voice of your consumer, without the time, cost, or complexity of traditional qualitative research. Explore allows you to run 1:1 AI moderated interviews, complementing your quant research.
This article explains what’s included in the beta, how it fits into your research workflow, and what to expect as we move towards full launch.
What are AI-moderated interviews?
AI-moderated interviews are designed for teams who need deeper human insight to meet the moment they are in.
Using an AI moderator, you can run one-to-one interviews at scale, uncover deeper motivations, and turn conversations into clear, actionable insights. The moderator is intelligent and adaptive, responding to each participant, probing when needed, and uncovering the reasoning behind what people say.
Every interview is conducted with real people, not synthetic responses, so you get authentic, unbiased feedback that reflects real consumer experiences.
AI interviews is an additional offering within Attest, so now you can combine quantitative and qualitative research with one tool and build a more complete understanding of your audience.
Why use AI Interviews?
AI interviews help you move from surface-level answers to real understanding. You can:
Understand not just what people think, but why they think it
Get closer to real consumer experiences, in the moment or shortly after
Run qualitative research without long timelines or high costs
Scale beyond small focus groups to hear from more people
This makes them especially useful for:
Exploring new ideas or hypotheses
Adding depth to survey results
Testing reactions to campaigns, products, or concepts
The result is faster, more confident decision-making, grounded in real consumer voice.
What is included in the Attest Explore Beta?
The beta focuses on helping you go from research question to insight quickly, while giving you control over how interviews are designed and run.
Setting up your interview
Generate a full discussion guide by sharing your research objective. You can:
Edit and refine the guide to match your needs - simply use the Compass co-pilot to adjust your plan
Control how the AI moderator behaves
Provide context about your research aims to inform topics, questions and probes
Review the discussion structure, flow, and estimated length
This gives you a strong starting point, while keeping you in control of the guide.
Testing your interview
Preview the full interview experience before launching. You can:
Test how the AI asks questions and probes
Try different answer styles to see how it adapts
Validate tone, flow, and overall experience
This helps ensure your interview is aligned to your research goals before you recruit participants.
Running AI-moderated interviews
The AI moderator conducts one-to-one interviews with real participants. The moderator can:
Adapt questions based on responses
Probe deeper to uncover motivations and emotions
Keep the conversation natural and unbiased
Participants can respond using voice or video, giving you richer, more human insight than text alone.
Stimulus and assets
You can upload assets for participants to react to during the interview. This includes images and video.
The AI uses these to guide the conversation and ask relevant follow-up questions.
Instant insights and analysis
Attest Explore automatically analyses interview responses as they come in. You can:
Explore a high level summary of key findings aligned to your research objectives
Identify key themes across interviews
Understand respondent sentiment
Review transcripts and recordings
Explore individual responses in detail
Insights are backed by real participant responses, with links to relevant audio and video snippets, so you can easily validate and share findings.
Respondent recruitment options
Within 'Targeting', you can choose between various recruitment options :
Share a link to recruit your own audience. You can match this back to customer segmentation using Respondent IDs
Access panel audiences in the UK and US (we are working to extend to more markets in the coming months).
When targeting a panel audience, simply edit the audience and choose the country (UK or US access currently), demographics and any quotas you wish to apply.
You can also choose to apply qualifying questions to narrow down the audience you wish to recruit.
This allows you to choose the best audience approach for your research.
Beta offer and access
Beta projects launch in May 2026 to Attest customers and give you early access to AI interviews and the ability to start running studies. As part of the beta:
Your first AI interview study is free for a limited time
You can explore the product without committing to a large budget
This is designed to help you start experimenting with qualitative research as part of your existing workflow.
During the beta:
Features will continue to evolve
Some workflows may be simplified or incomplete
The AI moderator will improve over time
This phase is focused on helping you get value quickly, while shaping the future of the product through real usage.
What’s coming next?
The beta is the first step towards a more connected research experience.
Upcoming improvements include:
Expanded audience targeting and global reach
More advanced analysis and segmentation
Greater support for storytelling, e.g. showreels
Integrated pricing and scaling options
A connected experience across your quant and qual data, including the ability to build insights stories across multiple studies and query all past data
These will continue to build towards a single platform where you can connect qualitative and quantitative insights seamlessly.
Best practices
To get the most out of AI interviews:
Start with a clear research objective
Review and refine your discussion guide
Test your interview before launching
Use interviews alongside surveys for a fuller picture
FAQs
Are these real participants or AI-generated responses?
Are these real participants or AI-generated responses?
All interviews are conducted with real people, not synthetic responses.
When should I use AI interviews instead of surveys?
When should I use AI interviews instead of surveys?
Use AI interviews when you need depth, context, and understanding of motivations. Use surveys when you need scale and measurement.
Can I combine this with my existing research?
Can I combine this with my existing research?
Yes. AI interviews are designed to work alongside your surveys within Attest. We will be bringing the two methods into one connected experience within the coming months. If you have feedback that’ll help us shape this experience, let us know!
Will the product change during beta?
Will the product change during beta?
Yes. You can expect ongoing improvements as we experience real-world usage and hear the perspectives of our customers!
Can I expect all of the same Attest features in Explore that I use in quantitative surveys today?
Can I expect all of the same Attest features in Explore that I use in quantitative surveys today?
There are many parallels with the functionality across our different products, but not all features + functionality will be the same. If you're uncertain on any of the features, please speak to your Customer Research Manager.
How can I get started trialling Attest Explore?
How can I get started trialling Attest Explore?
Speak to your Customer Research Manager today to receive a demo of the Attest Explore experience and to discuss your free beta project.