How We Work
AI Is Changing How Research Gets Done. We're Changing What It's For.
The Divide
A new wave of AI-powered research platforms is compressing the data collection process: automating interviews, running surveys at scale, surfacing patterns faster than any human team. That is real progress. We use tools like these ourselves.
But data collection was never the hard part. The hard part is knowing what to do with what you find.
What AI Research Platforms Do Well
AI interview and analysis tools are getting very good at the structured, repeatable parts of research: high-volume concept testing, quick-turn usability studies, pattern recognition across large datasets. If you need to talk to 50 people and surface the top themes, there are now platforms that can do that faster and cheaper than any agency.
We welcome this. It means the commodity layer of research, the part that was already being compressed by platforms like UserTesting, Maze, and Dovetail, is moving even faster toward automation. That is good for the industry because it clears the way for the work that actually matters.
What AI Research Platforms Cannot Do
The strategic layer is a different problem entirely. Here is where the tools stop and the real work starts.
Strategic synthesis across multiple inputs
AI platforms work from their own interview data. We work from interviews plus analytics, business context, competitive landscape, stakeholder dynamics, and domain expertise. The “so what should we actually do?” layer requires human judgment that no model can replicate, because it depends on understanding your organization, not just your users.
The relationship and trust layer
When our clients invest in Amplinate, they are buying judgment. They need someone who understands their organizational dynamics, who can push back on stakeholder assumptions, who can read a room and change the presentation on the fly. That is not a feature you can automate.
Cross-cultural and international research
AI interviews work in English and a handful of other languages. The nuance of cross-cultural research, including regulatory differences, market-by-market strategy, and the things people mean but do not say, requires human researchers who have spent years in those markets. We operate embedded teams across 19 countries in 5 continents.
AI decision advisory
AI research tools are optimizing the “gather feedback” step. We help companies figure out where AI agents should and should not operate, how to design human-AI workflows, and how to make the product and AI decisions that drive growth.
Complex qualitative methods
Diary studies. Ethnography. Longitudinal research. Contextual inquiry in physical environments. These require presence, adaptation, and the kind of rapport that only happens between people.
How AI Fits Into Our Work
AI is part of how we work, selectively and with clear boundaries:
Analysis Support
We use AI tools for pattern recognition and efficiency in the parts of our work where speed matters and judgment does not need to be primary. This lets our senior team spend more time on synthesis, strategy, and the client conversations that actually move the needle.
Quote Identification
Surfacing relevant participant quotes faster so researchers can focus on interpretation, not transcription.
Pattern Recognition
Spotting high-level themes and commonalities across responses, giving our team a head start on the synthesis that matters.
Bias Mitigation
Helping surface insights that might be overlooked due to unconscious bias, so our analysis reflects the full picture.
What We Don't Do
We don't use AI to replace qualitative judgment.
We don't feed your data into models that train on it.
And we don't hand you an AI-generated report and call it insight.
Every finding we deliver has been interpreted, pressure-tested, and validated by a principal-level practitioner. That's the standard.
Our Position
The research industry is being reorganized by AI. The data collection layer is being commoditized. The strategic layer is becoming more valuable, not less.
We've spent 20+ years and over 40,000+ hours building the judgment that sits on top of the data. That's what our clients pay for and it's the one thing that can't be automated.
AI research platforms are great at gathering signal. We're great at turning signal into decisions.
DATA PRACTICES
Your data stays yours. We never use client data to train or improve AI models. All data remains strictly confidential under our standard agreements.
Human oversight is non-negotiable. Every AI-assisted analysis is reviewed and validated by a senior researcher before it reaches you.
We're transparent about what's AI-assisted and what isn't. If we use AI tools in any part of an engagement, you'll know.