AI forms

An AI form asks the same questions as any other form, but as a conversation. An interviewer greets the person, asks each question in its own words and, on open questions, asks one more thing when an answer is too short to be useful. People tend to write more, and more specifically, to somebody who asks than to an empty box, which is why the option is marked Best results.

Making one#

1. 1

   Press New form

   In Forms, press New form and choose AI.

2. 2

   Say what you want to find out

   Describe it the way you would to a colleague, for example "why customers cancel, and what would have made them stay". Nemi AI writes the questions from it. This is optional: leave it empty and you start with a blank form.

3. 3

   Check the questions

   Every question is an ordinary question you can edit, reorder, delete or add to in Build.

4. 4

   Try it

   Open Preview and answer it yourself. Start over begins a new conversation.

5. 5

   Publish it

   Share the link like any other form. See Sharing a form.

An existing form can become an AI form too: in Build, open Settings and pick AI under Presentation. On a form that already has questions, Add questions with Nemi AI writes more and adds them to the end; it never replaces the ones you have.

The interviewer settings#

With AI selected, Settings shows an Interviewer block.

• What should the interviewer find out? A note in your own words about what you are really after. The interviewer uses it to judge when an answer needs a follow-up. People filling in the form never see it.
• Follow-up questions: None, One when an answer is thin, or Up to two to dig for the why. Follow-ups are only ever asked on open questions (short and long answers).
• Tone: Warm, Professional or Playful.
• Additional notes: on by default. When people mention something useful that answers none of your questions (a wish, a problem, a bit of context), the interviewer writes it down in an extra column called Additional notes. Switch it off to keep only the answers.

Limits, a deadline and a backup#

Under Limits you decide how far this form may go. Only the person who created the form can change these, because it is their Nemi AI.

• Share of your weekly Nemi AI this form may use: from 5% to 100%, 50% to begin with. When the form has used its share, the rest of your week's Nemi AI stays yours. Every form has its own share, so two forms at 50% can still use everything between them.
• Use AI until: a date. After that day the form stops using AI. Pick No end date to remove it.
• When the AI is not available: what people get instead, Flow (one question at a time) or Standard (every question on one page). It is used after the date, once the form has used its share, and when your Nemi AI runs out.

Who can start the conversation#

A link can be passed on, and every conversation uses your Nemi AI, so you can ask for something before the interviewer starts. We recommend at least one of the two for a form you share widely.

• Needs a Nemi account: people sign in with their Nemi account first. On a form served from your own domain, signing in takes them to the Nemi address of the same form.
• Password: people type a password you give them. Change sets a new one, and anybody who unlocked the form with the old one is asked again. Remove takes it away.

What the person answering sees#

• A chat in your form's own colours and fonts, with a line at the top saying an AI interviewer asks the questions.
• Open questions are answered by typing. Choices, stars, scales, dates, email addresses and file uploads are answered with the same controls as in any other form, right in the chat.
• Picking a choice, a star or a point on a scale answers the question and the chat moves on. With a keyboard, the arrow keys only move through the choices: the answer is sent when you pick one with Enter or Space, or press Continue.
• An optional question can be skipped, and a follow-up can be answered with Rather not say.
• At the end, all their answers on one card, and a button to send them.
• Use the regular form at the top switches to the one question at a time layout at any moment, with every answer kept. It is also the way to change an answer before sending.

What ends up in your responses#

Responses arrive in the same sheet as any other form, one row per person, one column per question. Choices, stars, scales, dates, email addresses and files are saved exactly as the person picked or typed them. Typed answers are filled in by the interviewer at the end, from the whole conversation, in the language of your form: if somebody answers in another language, the conversation switches to theirs, but what lands in your sheet is translated into the language of your questions. Something they mention while answering another question still ends up with the question it belongs to, and what they add after a follow-up is part of the same answer, in the same cell. A reply that is not an answer, like "what do you mean?" or "can you ask this in Dutch?", is never saved: the interviewer explains the question and asks it again. Before sending, the person sees all their answers as they will be saved, including any additional notes, which arrive in their own column after your questions and are listed with the answers on the Responses page.

Usage#

Conversations use the Nemi AI usage of the person who created the form, which is why only the creator can make a form an AI form. A colleague in the same workspace can still edit its questions and its interviewer settings. Trying the form in Preview uses the Nemi AI usage of whoever is trying it.

When the creator's weekly Nemi AI usage runs out, the form keeps working without the interviewer, as the backup chosen under Limits, until the usage comes back. Nobody answering it is told why. See The weekly allowance for how usage works.