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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Anthropic’s new Interviewer chatbot tool collects user feedback.
- The feedback is then given to human researchers for analysis.
- The tool reveals insights into what people want from AI.
As AI tools become increasingly pervasive, they’re also starting to feel like copies of each other rather than being tailored to your actual needs. Anthropic has developed a tool to collect user feedback to learn what you really want out of AI products.
The new Anthropic Interviewer tool, a chatbot experience launched Thursday, conducts real-time, adaptive interviews of 10 to 15 minutes with participants. Afterwards, a human researcher collaborates with Anthropic Interviewer’s analysis of the transcripts to better understand how people integrate AI tools into their daily workflows.
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“Millions of people now use AI every day. As a company developing AI systems, we want to know how and why they’re doing so, and how it affects them,” said Anthropic in the blog post. “We want to use people’s feedback to develop better products — but it’s also because understanding people’s interactions with AI is one of the great sociological questions of our time.”
Users can opt in now to participate in the next phase of the research. However, the pilot is only a week long, so you’ll want to act quickly.
How Anthropic Interviewer works (and how to use it)
Before launching Interviewer, Anthropic tested it with a sample of 1,250 professionals. The company used the insights from that test to compile a report with early findings on the use of AI at work, but the ultimate goal was to test the capabilities of Anthropic Interviewer.
Anthropic detailed how the tool works, breaking down Interviewer’s operations into three stages: planning, interviewing, and analysis.
With the first planning step, the tool creates an interview framework that poses consistent research questions across hundreds or thousands of interviews, while accommodating the nuances that come with different interviewers. In its test, Anthropic created a system prompt that it fed into Interviewer to develop its methodology. Then, Anthropic Interviewer crafted specific questions and conversation flow, which human researchers refined.
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In its second step, the tool conducted interviews at scale by following a system prompt on best practices for interviews. Lastly, the researchers collaborated with Claude to analyze the transcripts, identify emerging themes, and produce a final report.
Using those findings, the company released a public pilot of the tool. Anyone can opt to participate in the research, and participant insights will be analyzed anonymously as part of the company’s societal impact research and published in a future report.
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I tried Interviewer myself and was impressed at the flow of the conversation and the depth of its questions. The tool acknowledged my answers and built on them with different questions. Interviewer also double-checked on several of answersto ensure it understood my aims correctly, and every time it did. Compared to any other survey I have ever taken, the process felt much more comprehensive and, as a result, enjoyable.
To wrap up the process, Interviewer also included a broad, open-ended question where I could share any insights that weren’t specifically cited, allowing me to make any additional points. The full experience took six minutes, which is about half of the estimated time that Anthropic suggested.
Interviewer’s findings
Alongside the announcement, Anthropic published detailed AI research results. Overall, the report aligned with recent study findings from Google regarding the adoption of AI and productivity enhancements among working professionals, which have been leaning positively. Topline, the survey found that 86% of professionals believe AI saves them time, and 65% said they are satisfied with the role AI plays in their work.
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Furthermore, 65% of participants described AI’s primary role as augmentative, while only 35% described it as automative. However, anxieties about the technology and job security persist, with 55% expressing concerns about the impact of AI on their future and 25% expressing concerns about setting boundaries for AI use.
Since the survey was geared toward creatives, scientists, and the general workforce, the report also delved deeper into the sentiments of working professionals toward AI across various sectors, including writers, visual artists, craftspeople, physicists, chemical engineers, astronomers, and others. You can view the full results here.