The last two years have seen demand for AI-powered insights skyrocket. Everybody wants some, and the AI is well entrenched in the quantitative research sector (you may have heard of Big Data), but is it really a viable tool in qualitative research? Will it provide meaningful impact when it comes to emotional insight ideation, and agile strategy?

The short answer yes – if the right tools are used carefully. Like so many hot new buzzwords, you might feel it is overblown; and only four years ago you would have been right. But things are moving incredibly fast,

How A.I. started

Here at Jade Kite, our interest in A.I. started over 20 years ago. At the time, A.I. was a deeply theoretical project nowhere close to mainstream, real world applications. It mainly aimed to optimize classical computer programing, keeping the same top down, linear approach. These systems were very limited in terms of mainstream applications.

A paradigm shift

That is until the early 2010s, when two parallel changes made today’s A.I. possible.

• First, neural networks made the machines able to organize their own data with much less help from programmers.
• Second, mass adoption of the internet gave birth to Big Data through seemingly unending training data.

In only a few years, real-world commercial Ais became commonplace. Automated translation and dictation, barely useable up until then, rapidly gained credibility, with each new user helping improve them further.

A new age of A.I.

Despite the advances in A.I., human emotions and behaviors remain among of the most complex systems imaginable, keeping them out of reach of AI… Until now. A new explosion in qualitative data and scientific research have resulted in incredibly accurate window into how people feel and express themselves. The first useful, robust, and reliable applications are now available to those who know what data to feed in, and how to interpret the outputs.

How to incorporate A.I.

Beyond Big Data analytics, the insights world is starting to understand how A.I. can add even more depth, nuance and robustness to qualitative research and strategy if the right tools are utilized consciously, in addition to more traditional methods, by insights and strategy experts. The advantage in understanding and predicting human behavior offered by A.I. is entirely dependent on retaining our empathy, our curiosity, and our innate sense of connection.

To discuss which A.I. tools might enhance your qualitative insights, get in touch with Sidi today.