AI ‘friend and foe’ for data quality, hears podcast

The third episode of the series, released today and available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, examines the future of data quality in market research and the potential ramifications of the introduction of synthetic data and the greater use of AI.

Speaking on the podcast episode with host Liam Kay-McClean, Melanie Courtright, chief executive officer at the Insights Association, said there were both good and bad sides to AI’s impact on data quality.

“I think it is a friend and a foe – I think it is both a good and a bad thing for us,” she said.

“I am a big believer in innovation in our profession, and I am excited about what AI can bring to insights and market research. But we’re not the only ones using it – the fraudsters and people out there trying to hack our ecosystem are also using AI, and they’re using it to make themselves even smarter and more capable in this area.

“We’re going to be able to use [AI] to find and identify fraudsters, but we are also going to see them using it to hide themselves better.”

Andrew Cooper, chief executive and founder at Verve, said that experience was vital in using AI properly.

“I regard AI as like having a high-performance car, and getting from A to B very quickly, but it can go careering spectacularly off at the first corner if you don’t know what it is you are driving or how to drive it,” he said.

“Good AI needs good human intelligence around to drive it, and needs good cultural context intelligence to make sure it makes sense in the cultural round.

“It’s not for the amateur. Work with people who really know what they’re doing and learn with them, rather than make all your own mistakes.”

The latest episode can be accessed below with all three episodes, and all three episodes are also available here.