It’s true that Artificial intelligence has advanced faster than we anticipated. But what, really, is the promise of AI when it comes to qualitative methods? And who, really, does AI benefit, the client or the researcher? This presentation offers an unvarnished assessment of current applications of AI in qual. What works, what’s hype? What should we seek out, and what should we be wary of? What benefits can clients anticipate with a supplier that promises to use AI, and what considerations do they need to weigh before “pressing go” on a study with an AI component? Suitable for both researchers and end-clients, this presentation looks at where and how articificial intelligence intersects with the arguably most “human” methods, and how issues of bias and subjectivity come into play. We will look at what can – and can’t – be “offloaded” to AI, and why, and provide a summary of AI’s current capabilities as well as where it might contribute in future.
Principal, Athena Brand Wisdom
Jeff Hecker is Principal at Athena Brand Wisdom, a qualitative agency in Toronto. Jeff holds the CAIP designation from the CRIC, and has a leadership position in the North American qualitative community, currently serving on the Board of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association as Vice President. He has served on CRIC’s Qualitative Thought Leadership Council and was Associate Editor at Vue, the magazine of Canada’s Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA). Jeff has an MBA in Marketing from the Schulich School of Business at York University, and a degree in English Literature and Semiotics from the University of Toronto.