Note: AI audience search is rolling out to a limited number of workspaces while we refine the feature. If you can't see it yet, don't worry, it's coming soon.
Describing the people you need is the fastest way to start. Tell us who you want in your own words, and our AI builds the filters for you. This article shows you how to describe your audience, review the results, and use them in your study.
What AI audience search does
You type a description, like "people who code in Java and speak French." We turn it into filters, using AND and OR logic where your description needs it. You review the query, apply it, and see how many participants match.
It's a good fit when:
You have several requirements at once
You're not sure which filters to use
You want a quick estimate of audience size before you commit
Before you start
AI suggestions are a starting point, so review and edit every query before you apply it. Don't paste personal, sensitive, or confidential information into the chat. You're responsible for the final audience. Only use criteria that are relevant to your research.
Describe your audience
Log in to Prolific.
In the left-hand menu, select Participants.
Under Describe the audience you need, type who you're looking for.
Select the arrow to send your description.
Be specific and include everything that matters. Here's an example:
"I want people who can code in C++ or Java, can play tennis or football, and can speak English or French."
You can also start from one of the popular queries below the chat box, like healthcare professionals or coding experts. Select Use query to load it. To pick up where you left off, select Use previous query.
Review your query
When the AI finishes, you'll see a summary of your query. Each requirement appears as a filter, joined by AND or OR. AND means participants must match every condition. OR means they only need to match one.
In the example above, participants must code in C++ OR Java, AND play tennis OR football, AND speak English OR French. A participant who codes in Java, plays tennis, and speaks French will be eligible to participate.
You'll also see how many participants match. Here's what the numbers mean:
Matching participants: people who have been active in the past 90 days
Active last week: people who have recently been active
Estimated cost per participant: the cost for one minute of study time
These numbers are estimates, actual availability can vary when you launch your study. To protect participants' privacy, we don't show exact numbers for very small groups. You'll see "fewer than 5" instead.
When you're happy with the query, select Apply. To start over, select Discard, then describe your audience again.
Refine your audience
You can change your query as often as you need. After you select Apply, your query becomes your audience, and you can chat with the AI to make changes, like typing "also include Spanish and German fluent speakers". You can also edit the filters yourself by selecting Add condition, changing a filter, or removing one you don't need.
Depending on your criteria, we may also suggest looser and tighter versions of your query. These help you balance audience size with the criteria you want to use. For example, if relaxing one filter would greatly expand the pool of eligible participants, we may suggest that as an option.
You can also ask the AI to explain your query, or to summarize the participants on Prolific, like "Show me a summary of all the doctors you have." The AI shows you the details clearly, so you can refine or edit your audience. Please note, the AI explains the results, but the figures come directly from Prolific's data. So if something in the chat doesn't match your audience panel, go by the panel.
Your audience size updates as you make changes. Select the thumbs up or thumbs down icon on a response to tell us how the AI did. Your feedback helps us improve.
To begin again, select New query.
Use your audience
When your audience looks right, you have several options:
Select Save as filter set to reuse these filters later
Select Use in study to add the audience to a study
How we handle your data
We use a third-party AI provider to understand your description and suggest filters. It doesn't use your queries to train its models.
The AI only sees your description and filter information, plus total counts. It doesn't see individual participants' details.
We keep your search history so you can pick up where you left off, and we delete it after 6 months of inactivity.
We use your queries and feedback to test and improve AI audience search. For more on how we use your data and your rights, see our Privacy Notice.
If something goes wrong
If the AI can't build your query, you'll see a message. Try these steps:
Rephrase your description with fewer requirements
Select New query and start again
Use the manual filters instead
Next steps
Learn how to use filter sets, combine filters with AND and OR logic, or recruit participants and publish your study.