The AI Landscape Today
As AI has moved from experimental to operational across market research, suppliers and buyers are deploying AI for asynchronous prompting, real-time dynamic summaries, and sophisticated analysis. Multiple suppliers at CRC (the Corporate Researchers Conference) reported 80%+ accuracy rates when comparing AI-generated synthetic data against human-derived insights. Factor in cost advantages and speed, and it’s clear why C-Suite executives are warming to “good enough” AI insights.
But here’s where our perspective diverges from the others: we don’t see AI as a replacement for what we do. We see it as an amplifier.
At KLC, we’ve built our reputation on running exceptional online insight communities. These aren’t just panels, they’re rich, ongoing relationships with engaged members. We have attitude data, demographic profiles, and behavioral databases for our community members, some spanning several years.
This depth of longitudinal data represents something unique: a foundation for truly personalized, accurate AI applications. While others are generating synthetic data from scratch, we’re sitting on a goldmine of real human behavior documented over time. This is our competitive advantage, and it’s precisely where we believe AI can elevate our offerings.
How is KLC envisioning the next era of collaboration through AI?
My belief is to lean into KLC’s current core capabilities, i.e., running insight communities. For that reason, we are intrigued by the possibilities of DigitalTwinning. Although AI generated, a Digital Twin is not the result of synthetic personas. It’s a dynamic, personalized virtual replica of a specific individual, based on their actual data (demographic, attitude and behavioral) history. For communities like ours with years of member data, the opportunity is potentially transformative.
Consider the practical applications: Instead of an endless series of reminders to hard-to-reach respondents, we could deploy members’ digital twins to complete quotas. When you need immediate feedback from a specific demographic, digital twins could augment responses from actual members.
We’re exploring an incentive honorarium model where community members could opt-in to allow their digital twin’s “opinions” to be used, compensated at perhaps 20% of standard fees. This provides appropriate compensation for the use of a member’s digital twin while giving us flexible completion capacity.
AI will cause the insights industry to become leaner and more efficient, with heightened demand for firms that can integrate AI into their workflows and respondent options. In other words, the request for “faster, cheaper and better” will become a demand.