Embracing Human Intelligence (HI) in Market Research

There’s no doubt the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has permanently changed the business landscape as we once knew it. Work that used to take hours, days, or even weeks is now able to be completed in a matter of seconds by using generative AI tools. This transformation is a boon for numerous companies seeking efficiency and cost reductions. However, the newness and inherent biases of these tools brings with it a blend of risks and limitations, especially when it’s the only tool you’re using for market research data and analysis.

Now, don’t get us wrong - we’d be hypocrites if we said that you should avoid AI in market research. But we all need to be aware of current limitations this technology has in the research industry, and recognize where good old human intelligence will always play an integral role.

AI technology is only as good as the the data it’s trained on. If the data is incomplete, inaccurate, or biased, the conclusions will be too. Have you conducted online research lately? If so, you probably have seen more than a few generative AI bots that were able to infiltrate your dataset. Analyzing your data without a human eye to clean the data means that the results you’re reviewing won’t be accurate or indicative of how your audience responded.

This is precisely why we at Lab42 are sticklers for our daily manual data quality checks - downloading and combing through the dataset to ensure the responses are genuine, thoughtful, and are actually answering the questions that are being asked. You'd be surprised at how often bots masquerade as real respondents. These responses may look like actual respondents to the untrained eye, but our team can spot patterns that give these imposters away—like repetitive phrasing across many responses, suspiciously timed responses, or a single-source deluge. We scrub these fakers out to guarantee our clients get pristine, bot-free data.

Another caveat of AI is, because it’s trained on specific data, it often lacks the nuanced understanding and contextual depth that human input provides (especially when developing a survey). These tools may miss critical aspects real life, current events, or fail to probe into the subtleties that are often essential in research and data gathering. AI, in its current state, is not fully equipped to understand complex human emotions and human behavior.

At Lab42, we recognize the importance of maintaining a human-first approach in our research. While AI is an important tool for background research and information, it’s no substitute for professional insight. Our approach involves using AI as a complement to human expertise, not as a replacement. We leverage the speed and efficiency of AI for gathering information, while ensuring that the critical aspects of research—such as understanding the goals, objectives, the brand and category, and developing the survey and analyzing the results—are handled by our experienced team.

It’s easy to see why so many people have engaged with and continue to engage with AI tools - they are incredibly easy to use and the results they deliver appear to be sophisticated and accurate. However, there’s a real risk that AI users automatically accept everything that the AI spits out without scrutinizing or adding professional insights - potentially leading to misguided questionnaires and results that are not accurate.