Examplary AI Authoring is live in Cirrus
Even when the learning objectives are clear and the source material is ready, authors still have to work out what to ask, how to phrase each question and where it belongs within the assessment.
For organisations managing large item banks, that work quickly adds up. Subject matter experts may know the subject inside-out, but every hour they spend drafting questions is time they cannot spend reviewing content or applying their expertise elsewhere.
Our new partnership with Examplary is designed to make that process more manageable. The integration brings Examplary’s specialist AI authoring technology into the Cirrus platform. Authors can now use their existing learning materials to generate a full draft assessment inside Cirrus, giving them a complete set of questions to review, rather than start from scratch. Every step, from upload to generation, stays in the EU.
How the Examplary integration works
Everything starts in Cirrus. Authors choose Add assessment, then Create with Examplary, and pick the collection the generated questions should go into.
Examplary then opens inside Cirrus. Authors give the test a title, set the student level and supply the source material, whether that is existing material, an uploaded document, a scanned paper copy or pasted text.
Next, they set the parameters: taxonomy, duration of the assessment, question types (or let the AI decide) and any additional instructions on scope, audience and the standard of answer expected. Instructions can be saved as templates and reused, so a well-tuned set of instructions becomes a house standard rather than something every author rebuilds.
From there it is one click. Examplary analyses the source material, builds the test structure, determines the scoring criteria and writes the questions, which takes a few minutes for a full draft.
Once the draft has been generated, each question is added to the Cirrus Library as a standard item. From there, the usual Cirrus processes continue. Authors can edit questions, send them for review and apply their organisation’s existing approval requirements.
There is no separate bank of AI-generated content to manage. Authors do not need to copy questions from one system into another. The draft enters the same environment where the rest of the assessment is developed and maintained.
A better place to begin
Before an author can improve a question, there has to be a question to review. Examplary provides that initial structure by creating a complete working draft from materials the organisation already trusts.
This changes how expert time is used. Subject matter experts can concentrate on checking whether a question reflects the intended knowledge and whether it is appropriate for the target audience. They can refine the wording and make informed decisions about what belongs in the final assessment.
The author remains responsible for the finished item. Examplary provides the starting point, while the organisation keeps control of what is approved and used.
Build item banks with less manual effort
Developing a substantial item bank can require months of work, particularly when assessments cover a broad curriculum or need regular updates.
The Examplary integration can reduce the amount of manual drafting involved. Authors can generate a body of review-ready content from existing materials, then use their time where professional judgement has the greatest value.
This is especially useful when an organisation needs to introduce a new assessment or replace outdated questions. It can also support programmes where item exposure means fresh content must be created regularly.
Your review process stays exactly as it is
Using AI in assessment authoring should never mean publishing questions without proper oversight.
Every question created through Examplary becomes a normal Cirrus item. This allows customers to retain the review and approval processes they already use. Generated content can be edited and checked by the appropriate people before it reaches a candidate.
This matters because assessment quality depends on context. A question may be factually correct while still being poorly suited to a particular exam. It may test the wrong level of understanding or use terminology that does not match the programme.
Those decisions still belong to assessment professionals. The integration helps them reach the review stage sooner and gives them more time to examine the content carefully.
Work from your own materials
Examplary generates questions using the learning materials supplied by the author. This keeps the draft connected to the organisation’s own curriculum or body of knowledge.
Authors have a clear reference point when reviewing each item because they know which material informed the assessment. They can compare the generated content with the original source and make any changes required.
Uploaded materials are not used to train third-party models. AI requests are also processed without personal data. Examplary has designed its technology around GDPR requirements and the EU AI Act, with human approval built into the way its tools are used.
How Examplary handles your data
Your source material is used for one thing: generating the questions you asked for. It is never used to train or improve AI models, either by Examplary or by the AI provider behind it.
Your uploads stay in your own Examplary workspace, in encrypted storage in Germany, until you delete them. That means you keep a record of the material each assessment was built from, you can reuse it for the next one, and you decide how long to hold on to it. The copy sent to the AI provider for generation is separate: it is held only temporarily to support generation and deleted afterwards.
Generation runs inside the EU, start to finish.
AI requests are handled without personal data, and the technology is built around GDPR and the EU AI Act with human approval designed in from the start. Those commitments were a large part of why we chose Examplary as a partner.
Generated items sit in Cirrus alongside everything else, under the same permissions and audit trail your team already works with.
Want to see it for yourself?
Already a Cirrus customer? Speak to your customer success manager about enabling Examplary for your organisation.
Not using Cirrus yet? Get in touch and we will show you the whole thing live, including how it would fit the kind of assessments you run.
