July 4, 2025
Market research is undergoing a profound transformation thanks to the rise of AI-moderated interviews (AIMIs), a cutting-edge methodology that blends the best of traditional qualitative interviews with the scalability of surveys. As companies seek deeper consumer insights at speed and scale, AIMIs are emerging as a game-changer by leveraging conversational AI powered by large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing (NLP).
AI-Moderated Interviews (AIMIs) are a next-generation market research method where an AI-powered agent conducts semi-structured, one-on-one interviews by asking open-ended questions, listening actively, and dynamically probing responses in real time. This approach combines the depth and nuance of traditional qualitative interviews with the scalability and speed of surveys. Glaut is the pioneer of AIMI methodology since 2024, having developed an AI-native platform that enables researchers to run thousands of conversational interviews simultaneously, delivering richer, cleaner, and faster insights at scale. Their platform uses advanced large language models to replace human moderators, allowing for personalized follow-ups and multilingual support, and has been rigorously tested against traditional survey methods to prove its effectiveness. Glaut’s pioneering work in AI-moderated interviews is detailed in their comprehensive AIMI whitepaper, which explores early evidence and practical applications of this innovative research methodology.
Traditional surveys often lack depth, while in-depth interviews (IDIs) are resource-intensive and hard to scale. AIMIs fill this gap by offering:
A controlled study comparing AIMIs with traditional surveys found that AIMI responses were over twice as long and contained nearly 19% more unique themes. The rate of gibberish or low-quality answers was halved, and overall transcript quality was rated significantly higher4.
AIMIs operate through a modular process:
The AI’s ability to interpret tone, detect contradictions, and handle off-topic replies ensures a robust and scalable qualitative research experience.
While AIMIs show great promise, they are not a wholesale replacement for human-moderated interviews. However, ongoing research and real-world applications indicate that AIMIs will become a core tool in the market researcher’s arsenal, enabling scalable, high-quality qualitative research that was previously impossible.
AI-moderated interviews represent a pivotal innovation in market research, combining conversational AI with rigorous methodology to deliver richer, cleaner, and faster insights at scale. As adoption grows, AIMIs will redefine how brands understand consumer behavior, unlocking new opportunities for data-driven decision-making in 2025 and beyond.