How to Research Podcast Guests and Interview Questions with AI

AI can speed up early guest research by grouping a person’s public interviews, articles, talks and professional biography. Start with a clear episode theme and prefer primary material: the guest’s own published work, an official organization biography, a paper or a recorded talk. A search result or third-party profile is a lead, not verification. Check names, pronouns, affiliations, dates, quotations and claims against the original source. People change roles, and sources can describe the same event differently. Separate what the guest said from what the producer infers. If a detail is uncertain, verify it or leave it out; ask for clarification without asserting the uncertain detail. Avoid mining sensitive details that do not serve the conversation. Good interview questions are specific, open enough for an informative answer and tied to the guest’s experience or evidence. Avoid questions that smuggle in an unverified premise, ask several unrelated things at once or can be answered with yes or no when a deeper explanation is needed. One useful structure is a concrete question, a request for an example and a follow-up based on what the guest actually says. Do not use an AI-generated question list as a script that prevents active listening. Organize the research into an episode brief: verified facts, source links, topics to explore, questions and points that require confirmation. If the conversation involves sensitive allegations, medical claims or legal matters, seek subject-matter review and avoid presenting a hypothesis as an established fact. During the interview, follow the answer. A prepared question can be skipped if it no longer fits, and a new follow-up may be more valuable than the next item on the list. The SPJ Code of Ethics emphasizes verification, context and clear sourcing for journalism; it is a professional guide, not a universal legal rule. AI is useful for organizing preparation, but the producer remains responsible for accuracy, fairness and the quality of the conversation.