Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge concerning how to drive, generate and energize change and development in social systems. A potential key to meet this challenge is the strength-based change management approach called appreciative inquiry (AI). A centralcomponent of AI is the “AI interview”, which has evolved into a distinct activity that enables the past and the future to be used as a generative source for on-going learning about strengths, opportunities,aspirations and results. The AI interview has in previous studies shown an often surprisingly high ability to generate development and change in social systems. However, the understanding of the generative “mystery” of the AI interview, focusing on the value experienced by both the people conducting the interview and those being interviewed, is still in need of further exploration. Furthermore, the evident generativity of the AI interview has not yet been integrated to any large extent into quality management. The purpose of this paper is to change that. Design/methodology/approach The researchers have studied the customer experience of conducting an AI interview based on feedback from 97 AI students at Mid Sweden University. Findings Among the results, eight categories of value are identified. Originality/value The paper contributes with new knowledge concerning the values experienced during participation in an AI interview. The paper also highlights ideas on how the generativity of the AI interview could be increasingly integrated into quality management.