Hiring panel participants for AI Moderated testing

Last updated: October 18, 2026

You can hire panel participants for your AI-moderated studies.

AI-moderated studies give you the convenience and scale of unmoderated research with the rich, detailed insights you’d get from live interviews. The AI Moderator guides participants through the session and asks relevant follow-up questions based on your learning goals and their responses.

This article covers how to hire participants from the Maze panel for AI-moderated studies. To hire participants for unmoderated studies, see Hiring panel participants for unmoderated testing. To hire participants for moderated interview studies, see Hiring panel participants for moderated interview studies.

Who can use this feature?

AI-moderated studies are available on Enterprise plans.

Before you start

  • If you intend to use the Maze panel for AI-moderated sessions, the session must be no longer than 30 minutes.

  • Maze recommends testing with at least 10 participants for AI-moderated studies.

  • AI-moderated studies require microphone access, since the conversation with the AI Moderator is based on audio.

  • Participants can complete AI-moderated sessions from a mobile device via a web browser, but the Maze Participate app isn’t supported for AI-moderated studies.

  • Screen sharing within AI Moderator isn’t currently supported on mobile. If your study includes a Website task block, screen sharing becomes required and tablet and mobile will be turned off automatically.

  • Always preview and test your study before placing a panel order. You can preview a single block or the full study to check how the AI Moderator handles the conversation.

Pricing

You can order between 1 and 250 participants for individual studies.

For AI-moderated studies, panel credits are priced based on the network and audience type:

  • AI-moderated - Core Network: 5 credits per B2C participant

  • AI-moderated - Extended Network: 5 credits per B2C participant, or 9 credits per B2B participant

All prices include recruitment fees and participant incentives.

Maze partners with multiple panel providers to source participants. Most orders are fulfilled through the Maze Core Panel, powered by Prolific. For regions or audiences outside Core Panel coverage, Maze automatically routes the order to the Extended Network, which can reach a wider range of geographies and audiences, including verified B2B professionals.

Learn more about panel credit costs

How many participants do I need?

The number of participants you need depends on the type of research you’re running. Maze recommends testing with:

  • At least 10 participants for unmoderated studies

  • At least 10 participants for AI-moderated studies

  • At least 5 participants for moderated studies

Learn more about the ideal number of participants

Placing an order

Before placing a panel order, create an AI-moderated study and review the study setup.

  1. Create a new study and select AI-moderated study.

  2. Build your study by defining your goals, setting up your discussion blocks, and configuring media and device controls.

  3. If needed, add screening questions from the Recruit tab by clicking + Add screener. You can add up to 5 screening questions and define acceptance and rejection rules.

  4. Preview your study to make sure the AI Moderator handles the conversation as expected.

  5. When you’re ready to recruit, open the Recruit tab and select Panel participants.

Screening questions

Screening questions help select participants based on characteristics such as demographics, work profiles, consumer preferences, and more. Adding screening questions to your AI-moderated study helps make sure participants match your desired audience and supports more meaningful insights.

After adding screeners, use the preview option to test the screener flow based on your rules. When you’re happy with the questions, click Save and close to attach the screener to your study.

Device and media settings

AI-moderated studies require microphone access. You can also choose whether participant camera access and screen sharing are required, optional, or off. These settings determine the media access participants are asked to grant when they start the study.

You can choose which device types participants can use: desktop, tablet, and/or mobile web. If a participant opens the study on a device that isn’t allowed, they’ll see a blocker message asking them to join from an allowed device.

When to expect results

Results start coming in as participants complete your study. Orders are often fulfilled quickly, but Maze doesn’t guarantee a specific turnaround time. Every panel order stays active until completed or stopped.

Targeting filters, screening questions, study length, and media requirements can affect how quickly the order fills.

Results dashboard

Each AI-moderated session automatically generates a comprehensive analysis package, including AI summaries, editable transcripts with speaker separation, and timestamped highlights of key moments.

You can navigate between recordings and transcripts, organize insights by themes, and share important findings as clips or pinned highlights with your team. You can also export session recordings, download transcripts, and download highlight reels from the Analyze tab.

Learn more about AI-moderated study results

How to stop a panel order

Panel orders stay active until the number of participants you selected has completed your study. If you want to stop an order before completion, open the study settings from the Recruit tab and stop collecting responses.

Archiving the project or deleting the study will also cancel all active panel orders. Canceling automatically refunds any remaining credits for participants who haven’t completed the study. It doesn’t refund credits for completed responses.

Reporting participants

When recruiting panel participants, the quality of responses is our biggest concern. If you’re not happy with the quality of a response from a panel participant, we encourage you to report it. This helps us maintain the quality of the panel.

Learn more about reporting panel participants

Still need help?

If you have any questions or concerns, please let our Support team know — we’ll be happy to help!