Are Market Researchers Allergic to AI? Our AI Moderator Reveals the Truth
Anna Kupriyanova
Marketer
99% of the time we are busy excavating consumer insights. But today we're looking within, at the professionals in the market research industry with a variety of job titles from researcher to VP. How do they use it? What are their doubts and concerns about it? Would they trust an AI automoderator with their clients? Let's find out.
This research was performed by our AI automoderator Mia. All we did was write a list of questions with probing instructions. Everything else was handled by the AI agent.
The applications of AI
The majority referenced applications such as generating ideas (for ad creatives, survey questions, article titles), copywriting and generating images, summarising and analysing long texts, theme and key findings extraction, exploring unfamiliar topics. A sentiment shared by many of the respondents can be summed up by this quote:
However, a loss of creativity, critical thinking and a general threat of getting lazier are among the common worries.
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency
If we had to pick a direct synonym to AI based on the answers we received, it would be "efficiency".
For the MRX professionals, that entails:
For the MRX professionals, that entails:
- simplifying routine tasks,
- freeing up time for more important work,
- being able to process and analyse large amounts of data.
Concerns about incorporating AI into work / research
Everything comes down to the scale. Our respondents were comfortable with the idea of using AI for shorter, simpler, more mechanistic tasks as well as desk research, quant studies and usability tests where the respondent needs to complete a task, and provide feedback. Distrust in AI's ability grew in proportion to the level of task complexity.
Biggest concerns were:
Biggest concerns were:
AI's Lack of Human Qualities
Such as empathy, creativity, and most notably, the ability to decode emotions.
The opaque nature of AI
Some described it as a "black box" where data is processed in an unknown way. This lack of transparency about how AI works and how it processes data creates doubts.
Confidentiality
Potential risk of exposing confidential information when using AI.
Data Accuracy and Integrity
There are worries about the truthfulness and accuracy of the information provided by AI.
In AI Automoderators we trust?
When it comes to using automoderators in communication with clients, customers and users, the level of trust hinges on a few factors, in particular flexibility and adaptability:
Although AI Automoderators are a young development and still have to prove themselves, these are the benefits that market research professionals do already recognise:
- Scaling interviews in a way that wouldn't be possible with a human moderator.
- Providing 24/7 uninterrupted service, allowing for constant communication with clients.
- Focusing entirely on the questions and individual answers given, potentially reducing human error or bias.
- Training a virtual moderator with specific subject expertise in a short amount of time, enabling more in-depth interviews.
- Providing a low-cost solution for conducting research, particularly in a Software as a Service business model.
Dear Market Researchers,
We fully understand your concerns regarding the AI Automoderator – lack of empathy, ability to understand human emotions and interact with the respondents efficiently. We were concerned about that, too.
That is why we spent a whole year teaching our AI agent Mia the techniques of deep and hybrid moderation in order to extract quality information.
Now it can probe, react with emojis, understand if a respondent shares something sad, funny or happy, and react with a human-like empathy.
Jump here to chat with Mia and see for yourself.
That is why we spent a whole year teaching our AI agent Mia the techniques of deep and hybrid moderation in order to extract quality information.
Now it can probe, react with emojis, understand if a respondent shares something sad, funny or happy, and react with a human-like empathy.
Jump here to chat with Mia and see for yourself.
Tanya Berlina
Client success director @ Fastuna AI
We know we are on the right track – just read the feedback we get from our respondents:
Human-like consumer conversations
at scale and speed
at scale and speed
AI-powered automoderator that chats with people and probes with the same quality as a human moderator but more efficiently.