How to evaluate an AI employee interview vendor

Use one scenario across vendors

Choose a bounded decision your team could make during a pilot. For example, an operations lead wants to understand why new starters in evening shifts sometimes miss a step during handover. Supply a fictional participant account, a contrasting case, a vague answer and a disclosure that should be routed to a person. Keep the opening prompt and the conditions the same.

Ask the vendor to show the invitation, what happens when a response is vague and what an authorized reviewer sees afterward. Include an employee who uses an accessible or alternative channel if that matters to the planned population. Test the actual languages and conditions required by your organization.

Check that claims can be reviewed

Choose a sentence in the summary that could affect a decision. Ask the reviewer to trace it to an approved source, tell what the participant actually said and inspect an example that points the other way. Check whether the review process can distinguish direct accounts from interpretation, correct an error and preserve the reason for the change.

In the fictional handover scenario, one person describes confusion only after a late shift change. A summary says the issue affects all shifts. Ask the reviewer to check the source, correct the scope and show who sees the corrected material. Record what worked, what needed manual review and what the vendor has yet to demonstrate.

Follow the data and test a boundary

Ask for a map of the proposed deployment covering identity, invitations, source responses, transcripts if used, summaries, model processing, exports, backups and support. Record which parties process each category, in which locations, for how long and under what contractual arrangements. Ask separately about any use for training and options for deletion.

Request an access test using permitted fictional material. Verify what a participant, reviewer and manager outside the campaign can open. Ask how exports are authorized, how they can be removed and which responsibilities remain with your team. For integrations and accessibility requirements, record the supported configuration and ask for evidence specific to it.

Agree what counts as adequate evidence

Record each requirement as demonstrated, documented, to test or blocking. A live test can show how a workflow behaves. A contractual or security requirement needs appropriate documentation and review. If a vendor states that a control is supported, record the version, deployment, scope and any conditions.

Calculate the cost of a pilot using license fees, implementation, participant support, reviewer time and any integration or procurement work. Set a decision date. An unresolved mandatory requirement blocks rollout until the responsible team reviews evidence. Optional gaps can become bounded pilot questions with owners and dates.

NIST’s generative AI profile is a general reference for risks such as confident false output. Use the checklist here to turn risk questions into evidence requests tied to a specific HR deployment.