The Evolution of AI: Takeaways from The Quirks Event

Several members of the Zintro team had the pleasure of attending The Quirks Event in New York City. Apart from the opportunity to reconnect with familiar faces and build connections with new ones, we enjoyed the chance to take part in the dynamic discussions about methodologies, technologies, and trends in the market research industry.

AI Continues to Dominate the Discussion

As with other events this year, AI continues to dominate the conversation.  Multiple sessions touched on the power and evolution of the technology, as well as intriguing new dichotomies that are emerging.

Efficiency vs Humanity

You’ve probably heard before that AI won’t replace your job as a researcher, but someone who uses it well might. This theme continued to hold true across presentations, with the caveat that while AI can deliver efficiency to researchers who are strapped for time and resources, a human touch is still needed in order to apply it effectively. In fact, according to a presentation by James Wycherly, members of the Insight Management Academy believe AI will actually increase the focus on human skills.

This session and many others addressed the complexity of human beings; after all, that’s what market research is trying to understand. As a panel of insights leads from Verizon, GoGoSqueeze, and Sargento reminded attendees, this complexity can’t be addressed with a single data point and single approach, but rather requires a more holistic view.

Given this, no matter how AI is used during research, there is the need to keep data and data collection at the forefront. It’s important to balance the use of tools and approaches in a way that mixes efficiency and quality. The panel noted above advised being okay with AI getting you part of the way there but not all the way, as humans have to introduce the subtleties.

The takeaway? No matter what application of AI is used, researchers can’t forget that it’s a human on both sides - the ones wielding the tools and the ones we’re trying to understand. Using AI with a dose of humanity ensures researchers don’t lose the nuances that are part of  meaningful insights. 

Depth vs Brevity

As anyone who has played around with AI tools to craft communication can attest, the outputs from these models tend to be a bit wordy. This reinforces the need for the human touch, although in this case, introducing brevity in order to maximize engagement. Tom Sommers, in a session about the impact of communication, highlighted this point well. It only takes 17 milliseconds for the brain to decide if it likes the digital content being consumed. With the average attention span at only eight seconds, it’s critical to get to the point, whether it’s a survey question, an executive summary in a report, or more. As an example, Sommers experimented with the length of survey introductions, and found that reducing the length from 127 words to 47 words yielded two times the response rate.

The takeaway? Keep AI in the mix to help with content generation and outputs where needed, but edit with a critical eye for the most succinct phrasing to ensure your content is engaging.

Top Down vs Bottom Up

In multiple sessions, the role of the corporate insights team was discussed. Of course, the ultimate goal is to be a strategic partner and advisor to the business, and according to Kate Schardt of PepsiCo, that means serving the entire organization, not just brand and marketing teams. 

With the rise of AI, this also presents an interesting new dichotomy - are executives and leadership driving the adoption and use of these tools, or is it the insights teams? The answer from the sessions at Quirks seemed to be a bit of both. Based on executive interviews, David Ludica from Citi and Robert Pierson from Borderless Access cited pressure from the top to use the tools daily. In this case, it’s the desire of leadership to have teams across the organization doing more with less, which means pushing these tools as cost-effective solutions. To be successful, then, means to be seen embracing AI in smart ways that appeal to executive mandates.

At the same time, in the quest to be strategic for the business, many insights teams inherently want to be that driver and first adopter when it comes to introducing innovations and efficiencies. AI is a key tool when used across the insights function in ways that align with objectives, whether it’s automating data collection, using it to extract insights from existing (and diverse sources), or even ideating in the early days of a project. Romani Patel of Microsoft, for example, shared a deep dive around how her teams are using an AI component with surveys in order to gain depth, seeing 46% longer responses in open-ends after an AI probe.

The takeaway? At the end of the day, no matter whether it’s the top of the organization or the teams themselves, AI presents opportunities for experimentation within insights, provided you keep the end goal in mind.

No doubt the technology behind AI and its applications in market research will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. At Zintro, we’re embracing it in ways that help our team pinpoint the ideal respondents for your study, using proprietary tools to narrow down your potential audiences from our vast network. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more.

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