I answered an AI-powered survey that revealed my innermost motivations, and immediately understood why companies pay thousands for employees to take it

• The Japanese startup Attuned devised a 55-question survey that can identify what motivates a company's employees.
• The survey uses AI to gauge how much each employee is motivated by money, competition, and other values.
• I took the survey, and immediately understood why companies are shelling out thousands of dollars to have their employees take it.

Keeping people motivated is one of the hardest things about being a manager — which is why companies are paying a Japanese startup thousands of dollars to help them do it.

The Tokyo-based startup Attuned offers companies what it calls "predictive HR analytics" that can identify the intrinsic motivations of each member of a team. By having employees take a simple 55-question survey, Attuned says it can reveal who within a company is motivated by money, who thrives on competition, who requires a flashy job title to be happy, and more.

Related: A Japanese startup created a 55-question test that uses AI to pinpoint exactly what makes employees tick, and companies are paying thousands to use it

Attuned's American-born CEO Casey Wahl said the startup spent more than two years working with a team of psychologists to write the perfect set of questions — ones that not only yielded a strong link to specific values, but also wouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes to complete.

Wahl invited me to take the survey, so last week I took him up on the offer. Although I was bewildered by some of the questions, I managed to make it through, and learn something about myself in the process. And I left understanding why major Japanese companies like Rakuten and Denso are shelling out so much money to have their employees do the same.

Here's what the experience was like:

Attuned is a Japanese startup that provides companies with what it calls "predictive HR analytics" to help them understand what motivates each of their employees.

When companies sign on with Attuned, their employees take a 55-question survey meant to assess how strongly they value things like "competition," "feedback," "social relationships," and "autonomy" at work.

Companies are paying top dollar for the service. A basic yearly subscription to Attuned costs about $2,000 for a company of 200 employees or fewer, while a premium subscription costs $5,000 minimum.