> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.userintuition.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Synthetic Respondents > Get fast, low-cost answers from AI respondents built from your targeting, including respondents grounded in real panel interviews. Synthetic respondents are AI participants. Each one plays a persona built from your screener answers and targeting attributes, and takes your study as a chat interview. Their conversations appear on your dashboard like any other. You choose them by picking **Synthetic** as the recruiting method in [Step 4](/creating-a-study/setup-interview.md#recruiting-method). *** ## When to use them Synthetic respondents give you answers in minutes, at a fraction of the cost of fielding. * **Explore early.** Pressure-test a concept, message, or hypothesis before you commit budget to it. * **Rehearse your study.** Check that questions flow, probes land, screeners route as intended, and the report gives you what you need. * **Iterate quickly.** Run a batch, refine the plan, and run again in the same afternoon. * **Ground it in real people.** [Interview-grounded respondents](#interview-grounded-respondents) are built from past interviews with real members of our panel. > [!TIP] > > A common pattern: run 10 synthetic interviews, refine the study from what you learn, then [duplicate it](/managing-your-study/study-actions.md#duplicate-study) and field it to a [panel](/recruiting/research-panel.md) or [your own participants](/recruiting/share-link.md) to confirm the findings before a high-stakes decision. *** ## Setting up a synthetic study Choosing **Synthetic** in Step 4 changes three things: * **Chat only.** The interview format switches to **Chat**. Voice and Video are unavailable. * **No concept links.** Studies with concept links can't use Synthetic. * **Demographics are added for you.** The first time you choose Synthetic, **age**, **gender**, **household income**, and **ethnicity/race** are added to your targeting attributes. You can edit or remove any of them. Everything else works as it does for any study. Personas are built from the qualifying answers to your screeners and targeting attributes, so tighten those to shape who the respondents are. *** ## Running synthetic interviews **1. Launch the study** On **Ready to Launch**, the Recruiting card reads **Synthetic Respondent**. Launch as normal. **2. Open Invite Participants** On the study dashboard, click **Invite Participants** → **Recruit from synthetic participants**. **3. Choose how many** Pick a target of **10**, **20**, or **30** interviews. The dialog shows the cost before you start. **4. Start interviews** Click **Start interviews**. Responses appear on the dashboard as each one completes. While a batch is running, the menu item reads **Synthetic interviews in progress** and you can't start another. Once it finishes you can run another batch on the same study. ### Interview-grounded respondents The dialog also offers **interview-grounded** respondents. Each one draws on a past interview with a different real member of our panel who matches your targeting, so its answers reflect how that person actually talked about their life and choices. Generated personas fill the rest of the target, and the dialog shows the split (for example, "6 interview-grounded and 4 generated personas"). Each grounded response is labeled **Synthetic · Interview-grounded** with the month of the source interview. If there aren't enough eligible members for a target, that target is unavailable and you aren't charged. *** ## Reports Generate a report from the **Reports** tab, as for any study. You need **at least three** finished synthetic responses. *** ## What it costs **1 credit per 10 interviews**: 10 interviews is 1 credit, 30 is 3. There's no participant fee. See [Billing](/resources/billing-and-credits.md). In the sandbox, **Launch Synthetic Study** starts three free synthetic interviews right away. See the [Staging quickstart](/api-reference/staging-quickstart.md). *** ## Frequently asked questions > **Can I mix synthetic and real participants in one study?** > > No. A study uses one recruiting method. Run the synthetic version first, then duplicate the study and choose a different recruiting method in Step 4 for the real one. > **Why can't I choose Synthetic for my study?** > > Studies with concept links can't use synthetic respondents. Remove the concept links, or field the study to real participants. > **How should I use synthetic findings?** > > As fast, directional input: to shape a concept, sharpen a study, or choose which ideas to take forward. Interview-grounded respondents bring in real panel members' experiences. For decisions that need direct customer evidence, confirm with real participants. *** ## Next steps > **[Research panel](/recruiting/research-panel.md)** > > Confirm your findings with real participants > **[Study dashboard](/managing-your-study/dashboard.md)** > > Follow responses as each synthetic interview completes This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.