AI in Market Research: Why We’re All Grieving

Have you heard anything about AI recently? If you have not, feel free to skip this article and return your head to the sand.

Personally, I’ve read a ton of fresh articles about the arrival of AI, how it’s poised to change the world, and not just market research.

I’ve read opinions that it is all hype and will fade as many other hyped innovations have or that it will take a lot longer to actually impact things than we think. Some write they’re downright angry that their jobs could change drastically or go away while others are just depressed about it. One friend in advertising has accepted that jobs like his are not long for this world and so he was glad he would soon be retiring.

In other words, I know people who view AI with denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – the classic five stages of grief! It struck me that essentially, grief and innovation-driven change are, in fact, very similar. Let me explain.

Innovation in market research – we’ve been here before

If you’ve been in market research for long then you’ve probably been told many times that some new innovation will change research forever. Often these changes don’t amount to much (remember how customer relationship marketing (CRM) was going to somehow eliminate satisfaction research?) and I’ve yet to see any innovation live up to its most outlandish hype. I recall the market research leaders who insisted for 20 years that we are “just five years away” from not doing surveys anymore. Point is, anyone who’s been through this might feel very comfortable in denial, but they’d be wrong.

AI is here and it will have some impact on the industry. While it is possible the impact will be small, it is also possible that it will be huge and denying its presence won’t alter that fact. There were plenty of deniers in the 90’s when it came to web data collection (i.e., “it’s not representative!”), but that didn’t stop others from trying it out and now we all know the result.

As for anger, feel free. Anyone running a business over the past 20 years has already faced outside challenges like the financial crisis and pandemic plus innovation-driven changes like the shift to web data collection, faster turnarounds and so on. Can’t we just have a few years of “normal”? It would be nice, but no we can’t. So be angry if you want, but don’t waste too much energy on it. There’s work to be done.

As with anger, depression is a perfectly natural reaction, too. However, wallowing in it is not healthy nor helpful. Enough said.

In grief, many of us experience “bargaining” trying to delay the inevitable – and with innovation, the same is true. If you think AI is worthy of consideration, but right now you have “too much on your plate,” then you risk being left behind. The reality is that existing priorities and deadlines will always provide you with a comfortable excuse to put off serious consideration of AI. Don’t delay, make the effort to stay informed and dedicate some brain space to figuring out how you might use it to enhance your own work.

Integrating AI into your research is the ultimate coping strategy

Which brings us to acceptance. Here, however, I think the innovation of AI will force us past mere “acceptance”. For example, if you grieve the loss of a loved one, you ultimately cannot change the loss, you can only change the way you react to it. With innovation, however, accepting that it’s real is only part of what you need to do. You must enter a final stage which is to embrace it.

Consider how it might help with every aspect of the work that you do. Maybe it can’t help at all or it can’t help yet, but you need to keep an informed and open mind about it.

I’m already through the stages of grief and really excited at the possibilities. How did I get here so quickly? Well, truth is our President, Rajan Sambandam, has been talking about AI for years. In fact, our InTXTigator tool for analyzing text (open ends, transcripts) uses the same tools that ChatGPT does, and our analysts have found it incredibly valuable in unlocking insights.

I, too, would love a few years of “normal,” but I’ve come to accept and embrace the possibilities this new technology has to offer, and I’m excited about the new insights it will help us deliver.