> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ailyze.gitbook.io/ailyze-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ailyze.gitbook.io/ailyze-docs/troubleshooting/ai-interviewer-issues.md).

# AI Avatar Interviewer Issues

This page helps you fix problems with building, sharing, and collecting responses from an AI Avatar Interviewer.

## "My slug says it's taken"

The **Custom URL Slug** has to be unique, so a name already in use is rejected.

1. Choose a different slug — use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, 3 to 60 characters long.
2. Watch the live availability check confirm the new slug is free.

## "I can't switch my interviewer to Active"

Going **Active** turns on live, paid collection, so it needs a paid account and enough balance.

1. Make sure you are on a **paid** account.
2. Keep a wallet balance of at least **USD 100**.
3. Use **Top Up Balance** on the dashboard to add funds.
4. Until then, run in **Test (free)** to trial the experience.

For plan and balance details, see [Plans, Limits & Credits](/ailyze-docs/reference/plans-limits-and-credits.md).

## "Participants can't start the interview"

A participant is usually blocked by the status, your balance, the response cap, or their device permissions.

1. Set the status to **Active** — **Test** and **Pause** don't allow live collection.
2. Top up if your balance is low, since participants then see "Interview Unavailable / Insufficient Balance."
3. Raise the response cap in the interviewer settings if they see "Survey Completed."
4. Ask participants to allow mic and camera access — low-bandwidth users fall back to audio-only.

## "No responses are showing"

The dashboard hides test responses by default, so real responses may be there but filtered out.

1. Switch to **Active** and submit a real response.
2. Check the **Combined**, **Interview**, and **Survey** tabs.
3. Click **Refresh** to pull in the latest.

## "Branching isn't working"

Survey-driven branching needs a branchable survey question to key off, so it fails without one.

1. Add a branchable question in the survey step — single-choice, multiple-choice, dropdown, or yes/no.
2. Bind your interview questions to its choices on the **Branched Interview** step.

## "The avatar isn't probing enough or the tone is off"

The avatar follows your moderator settings, so weak probing or the wrong tone usually means those settings need tuning.

1. Open **Moderator behavior** in Optional Settings.
2. Adjust **Probing Depth** (Light to Exhaustive), **Tone**, **Language Complexity**, and **Answer Validation**.
3. Add **follow-up questions** to individual questions.
4. Use **Additional Instructions** for edge cases.

## "My interview transcripts are weak"

An interview recording can transcribe poorly, and you can send it back through the transcriber for a cleaner result.

1. Open the interviewer dashboard.
2. Use **"Improve Transcription Quality"** to re-process the audio.

For more, see [Transcription Issues](/ailyze-docs/troubleshooting/transcription-issues.md).

## "How do I analyze what I collected?"

The dashboard has built-in buttons that download your data and start the right analysis.

1. Use **Analyze Survey** to download the survey data and run spreadsheet analysis.
2. Use **Analyze Interviews** to download transcripts and run document analysis.

For the full walkthrough, see [Create your first AI Avatar Interviewer](/ailyze-docs/getting-started/create-your-first-ai-avatar-interviewer.md).

## Still stuck?

Run the full participant flow yourself in **Test** mode first — it surfaces most setup problems before you invite real participants.


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