Tengai
Tengai is a Swedish AI avatar screening interview that ranks candidates on a Big Five framework, built for EU AI Act compliance.
Quote-based pricing
Bottom line
Tengai is a Swedish AI avatar that runs a structured 20-minute screening interview and returns a shortlist ranked by fixed rules on a validated Big Five framework. It does not publish pricing, and plans are quoted by sales. It fits Nordic and EU employers that want a traceable, EU AI Act-focused first round in place of phone screens.
Stands out for: AI is used only for the conversation: Tengai says no AI scores or decides, and candidates are ranked mechanically against your requirements. Its interview framework was validated by Psychometrics Sweden AB, and the avatar uses no facial recognition. Candidates get personal feedback and can reuse their interview for other applications for 1 year.
Watch out for: The avatar speaks English and Swedish, and the 4.0 translation covers only Swedish, English, Norwegian and Danish, so it is built for the Nordic market. Named ATS partners are Nordic systems (Teamtailor, Jobylon, Varbi, Zerolime, Talenttech), so US teams will likely need a custom API integration. Pricing is not published.
Overview
Tengai began in 2017 inside TNG, a Swedish recruitment and staffing firm, as a way to take bias out of the screening interview. It first ran on a Furhat Robotics social robot head, became commercially available in Sweden in 2019 after a year of beta testing, and was spun out from TNG to grow internationally. In 2022 the robot was replaced by a browser-based digital avatar.
Candidates are invited by email or SMS, or straight from the ATS, and complete the interview when it suits them on mobile or desktop. The avatar nods, blinks and listens, uses natural language understanding for a spoken or typed conversation, and runs a 'blind' interview with no access to the candidate's personal data.
The interview takes about 20 minutes: 10 behavioral statements, 10 personality questions and role-specific questions you add. The framework is grounded in the Five-Factor Model and was validated by Psychometrics Sweden AB. Candidates are ranked mechanically against the traits and requirements you choose, and receive feedback on how their answers were interpreted.
Tengai 4.0, released on September 17, 2026, lets recruiters build their own interviews, reorder questions, choose voice, text or multiple-choice answers, edit a live process without losing data, generate questions from a requirements profile, and translate everything into Swedish, English, Norwegian and Danish.
Data is stored in Sweden, Tengai works as a data processor under DPAs, and it states it meets EU AI Act requirements. It connects through an open API and named partnerships with Teamtailor, Zerolime, Jobylon, Talenttech and Varbi. Pricing is not published.
Who it's for
Best for
- Nordic employers hiring in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or English
- Public-sector and regulated employers that need traceable, explainable rankings
- High-volume roles in retail, logistics or customer service that currently rely on phone screens
Not ideal for
- US teams on ATS platforms without a ready Tengai connector
- Hiring in languages beyond the 4 Nordic and English options
- Buyers who want AI to score answers or recommend hires
Key features
AI avatar interview. Candidates meet a gender- and race-neutral AI avatar that holds a spoken or typed interview of about 20 minutes, on any device with no download.
Big Five personality screening. The question set is built on the Five-Factor Model and was validated by Psychometrics Sweden AB, combining behavioral statements, personality questions and your own role-specific questions.
Mechanical shortlist ranking. Candidates are ranked by fixed rules against your requirements, not by an AI model, so each ranking can be explained and traced for EU AI Act purposes.
Modular interview builder. Since the Tengai 4.0 release, recruiters set their own questions, order, length and answer format (voice, text or multiple choice) and can edit a live process without losing data.
AI features
| What the AI does | Plan |
|---|---|
| AI avatar holds a spoken or typed screening interview using natural language understanding | |
| Automatically translates questions and templates into Swedish, English, Norwegian and Danish |
Only features named in the vendor's own documentation. Anything sold separately is marked as an add-on.
Pricing
Tengai does not publish pricing. Access is arranged through its sales team after a demo, and the site lists named contacts for sales and customer success. No free trial is advertised. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.
Checked 28 Sep 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.
Is Tengai expensive?
Tengai does not publish a price. It is one of 31 quote-based tools among the 62 AI interviewing tools in our directory. 13 have a free tier, and those with a public price typically start around $79 a month.
- 31 quote-based
- 13 free tier
- 31 public price
Worked out automatically from every AI interviewing listing, so it updates as the directory changes.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Psychometrically validated Big Five framework
- Rule-based, explainable rankings
- Interview answers reusable by candidates for 1 year
Cons
- No published pricing
- Nordic languages and English only
- ATS partners are mostly Nordic systems
Integrations
Teamtailor Zerolime Jobylon Talenttech Varbi
How Tengai compares
See all Tengai alternatives, with what each one does differently and a head to head for every pairing.
| Tool | Free tier | From | MCP | API | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tengai (this tool) | – | Quote-based | – | – | |
 Sapia.ai Sapia.ai also runs structured, personality-based first interviews but by text chat, and is used more widely outside the Nordics. | – | Sales-quoted | – | ✓ | Compare |
| | – | Enterprise | – | – | Compare |
| | – | Sales-quoted | – | – | Compare |
Sapia.aiSales-quoted API
Sapia.ai also runs structured, personality-based first interviews but by text chat, and is used more widely outside the Nordics.
Enterprise
HireVue is an enterprise suite with video interviews and assessments across many languages, a better fit than Tengai for large global or US employers.
Sales-quoted
Alex is an AI interviewer for live voice, video and text screens that adapts the conversation, while Tengai ranks candidates by fixed rules.
Your next step
Shortlisting Tengai?
Still deciding? Ask an AI assistant about Tengai.
ChatGPT (opens in a new tab)Claude (opens in a new tab)Grok (opens in a new tab)