Forrester published research on interviews run by AI software rather than a human moderator, in which the system talks to participants in real time and follows up based on their answers. The approach suits short sessions of under about 30 minutes that give quick directional findings, and is presented as an addition to rather than a replacement for in-depth research. Forrester notes that recruiting the wrong participants simply scales the wrong conclusions, and that human interviewers still read emotional nuance better.
What changed
Qualitative customer interviews were run one at a time by human moderators, limiting how many participants could be reached.
What it unlocks
Running short conversational interviews with many participants at once, across languages and time zones, without a human moderator on each call.
- typically under 30 minutes per interview
What you need to act on it
- access to a suitable participant panel
- screening participants for willingness to be interviewed by software
- forrester.com2026-08-10