Can AI replace the examiner in an oral exam?

It should not. AI can run the conversation and draft a score, but a teacher should review the evidence and decide the grade, especially because assessment affects a student's future.

Do students have to be told they are speaking with an AI?

Yes, tell them clearly beforehand. It is a matter of fairness, and transparency duties about AI interaction apply in the European Union. Check the details with your institution.

What about students with accents or speech difficulties?

Speech recognition can make more mistakes with some accents and speech patterns. Review transcripts with that in mind, offer alternatives where needed, and assess the content of the answer.

AI-assisted oral exams: using them fairly

Last updated 29 October 2026

Written work is easier than ever to produce with AI, so many teachers want a second look at what a student really understands. A short conversation about the student's own project does that well, but it is hard to run for a large class. AI can help with the repetitive parts. It should not make the decision. This guide sets out a practical, fair way to use it.

What AI is good for in an oral exam

AI can read a submitted project and ask questions about it, follow up on what the student said, keep the conversation on topic, and produce a transcript. It can also draft a score against your rubric and point to the answers that support it. This saves hours on a class of fifty or more and gives every student the same kind of conversation.

What humans must keep

The grade is a judgement about a person, so a teacher should make it. Use the AI's output as a first draft: read the transcript, check the evidence, and change any score you disagree with. AI can misunderstand an accent, a technical term or a nervous answer, and it can be wrong with confidence.

In the European Union, AI systems used to evaluate students are generally treated as high-risk under the AI Act, which is one more reason to keep a person in charge. Rules and dates differ by country and institution, so check them with your university's legal or data-protection office.

Tell students what is happening

Students should know in advance that they will speak with an AI interviewer, what it will ask about, how the answers are recorded, who sees them and how long they are kept. Tell them how the mark is decided and that a teacher reviews it. Transparency is both fair and, in many places, required.

Protect privacy

Recordings and transcripts are personal data. Collect only what you need, ask for consent where it is required, set a short retention period and give students a way to ask for their data to be deleted. Check where the service stores data and which other companies process it.

Think about fairness and access

Some students will be at a disadvantage in a spoken exam, and the format should allow for it.

Offer an alternative or extra time for students with disabilities, speech difficulties or anxiety.
Remember that non-native speakers and strong accents can lower the accuracy of speech recognition, so read transcripts with that in mind.
Judge the content of an answer, not the fluency of the language, unless fluency is what you are assessing.
Allow a student to ask for a question to be repeated, as in a human viva.

A simple workflow

Set the rubric first. Share the link and the information for students. Let each student take a short viva on their own project. Read the transcripts and scores, adjust where needed, and talk to students in person when something looks wrong. Keep the AI conversation as one piece of evidence next to the submitted work, never the only one.

Know the limits

An AI viva checks whether a student can explain their own work. It does not prove who wrote the work, and it can miss subtle misunderstandings. Treat a weak result as a reason to talk to the student, not as proof of dishonesty.

Try an AI-led viva for your class

Post an assignment, share one link and let every student answer a short viva about their own project. You review every transcript and score. Free while we launch.

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Frequently asked questions

Can AI replace the examiner in an oral exam?: It should not. AI can run the conversation and draft a score, but a teacher should review the evidence and decide the grade, especially because assessment affects a student's future.
Do students have to be told they are speaking with an AI?: Yes, tell them clearly beforehand. It is a matter of fairness, and transparency duties about AI interaction apply in the European Union. Check the details with your institution.
What about students with accents or speech difficulties?: Speech recognition can make more mistakes with some accents and speech patterns. Review transcripts with that in mind, offer alternatives where needed, and assess the content of the answer.