AI In Market Research: The Story So Far – Chapter 3: A Glimpse Into A Future with AI

This is the third installment in our series on AI webinars.  The inspiration for this series is a simple question about what these AI seminars are saying.  There are hundreds of these seminars floating about, all based on the premise that AI technology is here to stay, people are curious about it, and they want to know how it will affect their lives.

We asked one of our staff members to attend several of these AI webinars in pursuit of the answer to this question: what are the AI webinars really saying?  What are the common themes, if any?  While the first and second chapters focused on AI’s ubiquity and limitations respectively, this third installment focuses on the replacement of humans and human work.

Will Jobs Be Lost Because of AI?

AI is a threat to most jobs including those in the market research industry but this is most especially true with any repetitive or routine work grounded by established knowledge or processes.  AI provides the advantages of streamlining your knowledge base and shortcutting processes.  If you’re on the process side and you fail to embrace AI, clients might find you costlier and less optimized.

The market research industry had already learned this lesson in the early 2000s when the big companies didn’t take online research seriously.  They subsequently found themselves trying to catch up some years later after the widespread acceptance and adoption of online research.  Whoever waits too long or neglects to embrace the newest tool would most likely fall behind as the industry shifts towards AI-driven processes.

What are the AI webinars saying about Human Replacement?

This doesn’t necessarily mean that humans would be fully replaced and displaced by AI in market research. AI is, after all, a tool.  All tools revolutionize optimization but optimization by definition doesn’t make things better.  AI will revolutionize things, but it is not the big revolution that will make everything different.

To illustrate that last point, a question was raised in one of the webinars about the possibility of a data collection tool that can replace surveys.  There wasn’t a definitive answer given by the panelists since it’s more of a question of what surveys would actually look like.  It would depend on what is wanted to be accomplished, the type of information sought, and how they would engage and elicit reactions.

The subject of AI-powered market research alone attracts investors.  Embracing AI would not only optimize your market research processes but it would also add value to your insights.  Having said that, AI places everybody on the same playing field, except those who recognize and seize the opportunity to experiment with AI are able to gain an edge.  The key would be to build on experience rather than purely on the thirst for innovation; try to be at the front of things, but don’t try to be the first one.  Try to find a good balance by going with the flow while making smart moves and decisions.

It’s been noted that the profile of the researcher of the future is a little bit more techy and into IT integration.  New business intelligence leaders today have IT backgrounds, and this is different from two decades ago.  Even in a world with AI-based market research, there would be room for the human factor that adds value from experience — something AI won’t be able to replace.