Ethnio reposted this
Thanks to Ethnio for the fascinating “People First” video discussion between YouTube’s Karen Bender and Ethnio’s Nate Bolt from Zurich today! The chat was live only, so we wanted to share some some quotes and takeaways we jotted down: 😯 While AI has leveled some expenses, Bender noted, “now the most valuable and scarce commodities are humans.” That not only means the users who can give us surprising input and messy emotional reactions (“Machines just don’t do that”), but also people on the research side with the insights to design studies. Moreover, humans have accountability. An AI agent can charge a credit card for a test, but a real person actually has to pay. 🌊 Bender compared a recruiting pool to a reservoir of water. While AI tools allow us to recruit for, conduct, and analyze hundreds of interviews in 24 hours, they also disrupt that reservoir. Participants are a finite resource. 🤖 Most overhyped AI tool? Bender and Bolt agreed on synthetic participants. 📄 Asked about underrated AI tools, Bender touted the content generation capabilities of AI to help researchers overcome blank-page anxiety. AI tools can develop drafts of study plans, screeners, and recruiting profilers—which human experts can then review and improve. 📆 Another underhyped way to maximize the usefulness of AI in research? Employing an agent to orchestrate repeatable tasks, such as scheduling interviews, messaging test participants, and getting them into interviews. 🤝 Despite the ever-evolving power and value of AI tools, “We haven’t seen anything slow down in this need for connection with real humans,” reported Nate Bolt. 🤯 For researchers anxious about AI, Bender points out that changing times make some key traits more important, regardless of the methods available: “Tools and skills are things you can learn. What is harder is teaching people how to problem-solve and think critically.”