What the Magic Mirror really needed was to partner with a good market researcher. The problem is the magic mirror could not think for itself – it couldn’t understand the intent of the Queen and the consequences of telling her that she is not the most beautiful. A market researcher could have said “Sure, Snow White is the fairest, but what are we trying to do here? Is being the fairest the most important metric? The Evil Queen has much more brand recognition, so let’s talk about what’s really going to drive behavior.”  

Was Walt Disney imagining the limitations of future AI/human interactions when he brought to life the Magic Mirror? The Magic Mirror had all the knowledge in the world but could only share that information when asked the right question. AI today is trained on – to simply describe it – the encyclopedia of the world. Yet, AI cannot share any of that knowledge unless it is asked a question. Then it searches for what it deems, based on algorithms and such, to be the most relevant answer. It doesn’t give all possible answers, just what it understands to be the “correct” one.  

Benefits of Using AI

AI does not foresee any consequences for the information given nor can it select the appropriate answer. That’s where humans come in – we have that ability. This can be the difference between valuable information and knowledge with unintended negative consequences. Don’t get us wrong, we love AI at PATH and use it regularly. We also know it’s important to weigh the negatives with the positives. So, here a few of the main benefits we have seen using it in our own research: 

1. It is knowledgeable.

   AI programs, like ChatGPT, have extensive and frankly quite impressive knowledge on almost every topic. It can even provide sources for the information it shares with the user. What a huge lift when you think about all the time you’ll save not going out and gathering information. Think of your AI as a fact-getter, not a fact-verifier. It does the work, you create the actual insights. Asking it for or directing it to specific sources is an easy trick to make it work more effectively.  

2. It’s fast.

   A user asks a question: “what is the average cost of a 40” TV?”. AI can give an average cost and examples of cost ranges at various retailers in under 30 seconds. It would take a human much longer to do the same work. Another example is the time saved doing business tasks. For example, you could ask AI to “write me a nice email letting this partner know they are no longer a fit for my business”. You certainly could spend your time crafting the email, but AI can whip one up in a matter of moments. It may not be perfect, but you can customize to take it that last step. Are you seeing a theme here? AI can do the 90%, you can prioritize your time on the last 10% that matters.   

3. It Learns.

   Advanced AI programs, like ChatGPT, remember what it has previously told you and can learn from your follow-up responses. This is helpful as it may take a few different ways of asking a question to get all the details you want. The ability to remember what it has already told you makes having this conversation much easier and more effective for the user long term. 

Working With AI

With all these amazing benefits, many people fear AI will take their jobs. But this isn’t the best use of AI – it shouldn’t replace humans, it should be a tool to improve the capabilities of humans. A market researcher can conduct research faster with AI, but only the market researcher can make the connections between what the research says and the client’s goal.  

An AI program isn’t going to freely give you extra information that may also relate to the question you asked it. The Magic Mirror could have told the Evil Queen that Snow White was a short-term problem and she would be off with her Prince and out of the Evil Queen’s hair soon. But, that wasn’t the question the Evil Queen asked. What the Queen needed was a trusted advisor – someone to interpret the data, ask the right questions, and give her the information that mattered. 

Conclusion

It’s probably welcome news to many of us that AI will take some tasks off our plates. It’s our chance to define exactly how we leverage this opportunity. A quote we love says: “You are not going to be replaced by AI, you are going to be replaced by a person using AI.” Take time to learn how to work with AI and use it to your advantage. It could be the make or break for your competitiveness in the market.  

Only humans can make the connections necessary to go from “here’s the data you asked for” to “here is the most important insight that you can action now”. Don’t let the Magic Mirror tell the story – make sure you are the master of your own destiny.