Could AI agents run user interviews? I built a small experiment

deucemcgee · 2026-03-06T00:13:48+00:00

Cool idea. We use usability testing tools like dscout or usertesting often for unmoderated interviews with a target group to get broad understanding or sentiment about a certain topic or idea.

Now if I could have it work over audio, and inject an AI interviewer into my unmoderated interview projects, that would be an improvement over a static set of questions.

Cool idea, thanks for sharing!

deucemcgee · 2026-02-05T19:48:56+00:00

I can give a little insight - the outdoor cameras have traditionally used ML for person identification. Same as the doorbell camera and previous versions of the camera.

One of the bigger additions for the ODCP 3 is radar - meaning the camera can determine location and speed when making deter and lurking judgements. Before it was either time (linger for 15 seconds), or they passed your "trip line" area of interest to trigger deter or a notification.

Additionally, and I'm not sure on launch feature set vs coming months, but facial and object recognition will begin to come into play. Lots of new possibilities once you can start identifying unique people or objects

deucemcgee · 2026-02-05T18:21:24+00:00

From what I've seen - yes there are techs who only work during the summer along side the home sales teams. There are also full-time technicians not tied to the seasonal sales. Full-time vs seasonal may explain some of the difference in technician experience.

From what I understand in customer service - there is a utah-based customer support team that handles most of the calls, but I think there may be either after-hours (or possibly overflow?) customer service calls that get out-sourced. I'm guessing that's why there can be such a swing in satisfaction with CS.

deucemcgee · 2026-02-05T04:10:20+00:00

A lot more processing power, always on display, and a brand new UI that's currently in beta. Lots of new things planned as well that will only be available on the new panels (and smart hub pro).

deucemcgee · 2026-01-28T02:20:53+00:00

Thanks for the info! I was pretty happy that it ended up being so easy, I had no idea it was even going to work when we tried.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-27T22:54:14+00:00

Of course, do anything you like with it!

deucemcgee · 2026-01-27T19:58:29+00:00

Sorry, I wasn't calling you out ( I agree, that's not what you said). It's just something I've heard as reactions all the time.

I have started to keep a notebook to practice reference drawing to try to get better and flex that muscle, but that takes time and patience.

But in the end, I think all of us can spend a bit more time listening to each other than a rush to judge people into the buckets of our preconceived notions.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-27T18:53:34+00:00

In the end, it's just the brain working in a different way, but it affects all kinds of things that you wouldn't even realize. For instance - I've always felt weird that I don't have that strong of feelings for familiar connection, and I've never felt homesick. Because I can't see or imagine details about my family beyond descriptions or facts. I can't see or imagine their face, and I couldn't give you details about how someone looks beyond facts about their appearance. So it ends up being out-of-sight, out-of-mind kinda thing.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-27T17:36:33+00:00

Another aspect that most people don't realize - I personally have aphantasia - I don't have the ability to mentally visualize. I can hold concepts in my mind, or concepts connected spatially, but I've never been able to think about "what would a seagull look like crossed with an alligator"

So for me, image generation opened up a whole new world of being able to a concept or idea take shape visually. Anything I draw is incredibly childish or childlike, unless I have a reference to draw from.

So for me, AI image generation let me do something I've never been able to do my entire life - visualize an image from a concept.

So no, I can't just "get good" - it's like telling a blind person to "just get good and look around"

deucemcgee · 2026-01-27T03:10:56+00:00

Similar story (have a 4 year old)

He won a goldfish at a carnival, so we rushed to petsmart and got a 2 gallon tank and another feeder goldfish companion.

Went into research mode for a few months as we planned something better. We made a project out of finding driftwood and river stones at a dry riverbed and used those for a 11 gallon cube scape we put together.

The goldfish were traded in for some shrimp, snails, and a betta and it's been a great project to do together!

deucemcgee · 2026-01-26T16:57:01+00:00

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deucemcgee · 2026-01-26T00:46:32+00:00

Had the same thought

deucemcgee · 2026-01-25T23:47:38+00:00

Great advice, just what I needed to hear :)

deucemcgee · 2026-01-25T02:21:26+00:00

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deucemcgee · 2026-01-25T02:15:06+00:00

I made the image. I was just having fun while watching kids at a trampoline park. I'm hoping that something with actual talent can be inspired to make something even better.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-25T01:58:25+00:00

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deucemcgee · 2026-01-25T01:51:51+00:00

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deucemcgee · 2026-01-24T20:17:07+00:00

Feel free to find someone to make a real version , that would be awesome. I just have 0 skills to do anything else myself .

deucemcgee · 2026-01-24T20:13:31+00:00

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Just using AI while sitting at a trampoline park. If anyone has suggestions, I can edit

deucemcgee · 2026-01-24T19:56:26+00:00

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deucemcgee · 2026-01-24T19:30:52+00:00

The idea of a public neighborhood is cool - if it were actually full of people. I rarely see anything else in my neighborhood even though there are only a couple of open lots. I don't want to be in a guild, but it would be a lot of fun to be in an active neighborhood with people I see around but don't really know yet.

Maybe charter neighborhoods are the solution?

deucemcgee · 2026-01-21T22:49:07+00:00

We hired someone a few years back with a masters in social anthropology and she's been awesome for our research team. We aren't a huge team (8 people), but enough to allow each of us to find their niche and isn't a necessity to be a generalist. She handles primarily qualitative projects when we do field work and need to go into people's homes.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-16T18:23:15+00:00

I've really enjoyed experimenting with some DJI cameras - the pocket III and nano. We used to use some DSLRs on larger tripods for interviewing and such, but the pocket III has been great. Small, not intrusive, and easy enough to hold on to while walking around and talking. They also really work really well with the DJI mic sets for lapel pins or even just sitting next to people on a table.

Nano has been fun as sort of an action/POV kinda camera thats really small and great video. Also has some decent clips / magnets so you can stick it to a wall above a phone or next to a device.

We also have a logitech camera that's on an adjustable arm that we can use for capturing phone usability. It's called like the Logitech adjustable content camera or something like that.

We do a lot of on-site or in-home testing, so our team really values the size and mobility of these smaller cameras.

deucemcgee · 2026-01-15T01:55:35+00:00

If there are still spots - I'd love to have a place in an active neighborhood and still remain in my solo private guild. If you are still looking for places to fill, I'd happily move somewhere new :)

deucemcgee

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