Glossary

AI focus group

Also called synthetic focus group · simulated group discussion

Several synthetic respondents brought together with a moderator, reacting to a stimulus and to each other. The depth route, on a small group.

An AI focus group puts a small number of synthetic respondents — four to ten in practice — around a guide and a moderator. Each reacts to the stimulus, then to the others. That cross-reaction is what separates the format from a stack of individual interviews.

Set against a synthetic survey, the trade is easy to state: the group gives depth on a few people, the survey gives breadth across a population. They answer different questions and do not substitute for one another.

What it is not

A simulated group dynamic reproduces the exchange of arguments. It does not reproduce the awkward pause, the person who stops talking, or the eye contact nobody makes. Everything in a real group that travels through bodies in a room stays out of frame — and that is often exactly where human qualitative earns its fee.

What a buyer can check

That the participants genuinely diverge: a group that converges in three turns was badly built. That verbatims are reported in the language they were produced in, not translated into the report. And that the guide was written before anyone saw the answers, not tuned afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI focus group?

A small number of synthetic respondents, four to ten in practice, brought together around a guide and a moderator. Each reacts to the stimulus, then to the others. That cross-reaction is what separates it from a stack of individual interviews.

How is an AI focus group different from a synthetic survey?

The group gives depth on a few people; the survey gives breadth across a population. They answer different questions and do not substitute for one another.

Does an AI focus group replace a real focus group?

No. It reproduces the exchange of arguments, not the awkward pause, the person who stops talking or the eye contact nobody makes. It is for preparing, exploring and comparing early; an important decision is confirmed with real people.