Part 2 of this edition features three leading experts who are pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and leveraging its competitive advantages. Alex Hunt is the CEO of Behaviorally, Tugce Bulut is the Founder and CEO of StreetBees and Perry Li is the General Manager of QuickDecision.
As the complexity of data increases, innovative researchers are turning to the advantages of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to manage, integrate, analyse and extract insights to drive strategies, decisions and innovations. As the utility of AI advances the challenges are changing and concerns are growing as to how it will impact and shape the future of market research and data-driven understanding. These experts provide their front line perspectives on the state of AI and where it is headed.
Crispin: How can agencies and clients best benefit from AI and where should they start?
Alex: “Harnessing AI allows us to define and diagnose behavior in commercial contexts where practicalities have historically limited or biased consumer feedback. Instant consumer feedback in ideation, for example, is cumbersome to manage qualitatively and difficult to deliver at quantitative scale. The complexities of optimally managing the digital shelf, to ensure consumers make optimal choices, are impossible to manage in a conventional survey environment. Agencies and clients alike might benefit from starting with challenges to which they feel current approaches are deficient at responding and questioning whether AI provides a means of answering more closely aligned to the commercial context.”
Perry: “I think we should start to believe that AI will eventually handle many of the current tasks out there, so we should be willing to embrace it. Building an in-house tech team, or starting to work with a tech partner is essential in order to speed up the adoption of AI technology.”
Tugce: “AI gives agencies the opportunity to allow humans to focus in the places that matter, while AI does a lot of the heavy lifting. AI delivers incredible data, but we need humans to add an element of empathy. As researchers, we’ve all developed the ability to rely on gut-feel, but now we can combine human intelligence and machine intelligence to deliver more than the sum of their parts.”
Crispin: Tugce, why are companies moving towards in-the-moment engagements and what does this mean for traditional research and surveys?
Tugce: “People tend to reconstruct memories in a learned way, rather than truly recalling them. Capturing insights in the moment means we can tap into people’s irrational brains and capture the nuance that really matters. For example, pre-Covid, gum was primarily used as a breath freshener so there was a social driver. During the pandemic, we found that it operated as a mood enhancer as people used it to relieve stress. That’s a motivation a traditional research methodology, based on recall, wouldn’t have identified. As an industry, we need to offer consumer closeness and in-the-moment research is a critical part of that.”
Crispin: What does AI mean for insights professionals jobs – are they being taken over by machines?
Alex: “In 19th century England the Luddites expressed similar concerns during the industrial revolution. Insights roles are changing; more specialised to reflect the complexity of the world today, more consultative to reflect the inescapable proliferation and democratisation of data, and certainly, in Behaviorally’s sector of the industry, more commercial reflecting the growth pressures faced by our clients. AI presents an opportunity for those working in the insights industry to process huge datasets more rapidly, detecting and processing patterns that reveal paths to influence shopper behavior at scale, thus delivering greater value. But, the need for human leadership and intelligence itself will not disappear. History tells us it’s those who harness new technologies, such as AI, to improve their own consultative expertise, or enable stronger leadership and exploration, who will succeed.”
Tugce: “I think AI offers a huge opportunity to the insights industry. Yes, there will be fewer roles based on repetitive tasks, but there will be many more opportunities for roles in areas like data science to ensure that AI is delivering on the promise by ensuring we include things like empathy. There will also be much more capacity for researchers to elevate their roles to true advisers, delivering guidance based on really rich data. For years, the trend has been to do more with less. AI offers the chance to reduce manual tasks and focus on the work that delivers real business value.”
Perry: “I think the repetitive work or standard methodology in the insight industry will be replaced by AI, like a lot of other industries, including many in-process management, data processing or interview facilitation roles. But I think we need our experts to focus more on innovation, new ways of doing our job or to be in line with other business innovations.”
Crispin: Alex, do you believe AI will eventually replace traditional market research methodologies?
Alex: “Not at all – everything has its place! At its heart the consumer insights industry’s purpose boils down to applying an understanding why people behave the way they do for some form of advantage (be it commercial or societal). We’ll never lose the need to observe people in real life, speak with people in conversation, either in-person or virtually, or ask consumers direct questions, even if their answers aren’t always reliable. AI is just one mechanism, albeit a critical one, to facilitate our distillation of insights and vastly extend the reach of our industry into new and dynamic commercial contexts where buyer needs are evolving. Those of us in the industry who wish to continue to evolve along with our clients should embrace and take advantage of the opportunity!”
Crispin: HOT TOPIC: There is more and more talk about focusing on sustainability; how should our industry respond?
Perry: “I think doing our work in a more digital and online approach will help. We don’t have to travel around, but still can get the best insight as we virtually meet respondents face-to-face to create the same emotional bonding.”
Tugce: “In our research, we see sustainability come up as a key theme time and again. However, it’s very clear when you look at the topic in people’s own words that sustainability means different things to different people and different contexts. As an industry, I think we’re in a unique position to help businesses across other markets to understand their role in delivering a sustainable future – whatever that means to their audiences!”
Alex: “The insights industry is a sector that naturally indexes well against many environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues including sustainability. I’d suggest two responses; first individual companies in the sector should elevate sustainability goals themselves to the board level and ensure a rigorous tracking of their pursuit is in place. Of course, this demonstrates to the client-side partners in the insights function a model that might very well contribute to their own organizational goal-setting and measurement. Second, we need to establish coalitions of the willing across the insights industry to champion sustainability as an issue, share best practices and celebrate progress against our efforts. Trade associations, such as ESOMAR, have a very important role to play here. But certainly, at Behaviorally, we want to join in the public acknowledgement and appreciation of the commitment all of our packaged goods clients have made, setting an example and striving to achieve their own sustainability goals.”
TOP TIPS
Alex: “Application of AI is not an end in itself, and for it to be useful we must first identify a commercial context with which it aligns well and can solve for an as yet unmet need.”
Perry: “I think some of us may think digitally transforming the insight industry and completely embracing AI is impossible. I would say that it is necessary, so let’s just do it.”
Tugce: “To realise value from AI, consider following the approach we use at Streetbees, which is a ‘humans in the loop’ process; AI and experts divide the work on a best fit basis while working together to maximise value delivered.”
Part 1 can be read here = /https://archive.researchworld.com/insights-from-the-insight250-winners-the-role-of-artificial-intelligence-in-insight-innovation-part-1/
