Gen AI in Market Research: Where It’s Headed and What Leaders Are Watching
Generative AI (Gen AI) is transforming how market research gets done – from streamlining workflows and identifying market opportunities with greater speed to unlocking entirely new forms of data and insight.
To better understand how research professionals are using Gen AI and what’s next, GBK Collective recently partnered with leading academic experts including Olivier Toubia, Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, Stefano Puntoni, Professor of Marketing at Wharton, and GBK Co-Founder Eric Bradlow, Vice Dean of AI and Analytics at the Wharton School – to conduct a comprehensive study of more than 170 U.S.-based research and insights professionals.
The results reveal strong momentum for Gen AI adoption as well as some challenges. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in market research workflows, it opens exciting possibilities of greater efficiency and speed to insight, while also raising some important questions. How do marketing leaders ensure the accuracy of AI-generated insights? How do we balance automation with human expertise? And how can firms unlock AI’s full potential while mitigating concerns around security, governance, and skill gap risks?
Our study paints a picture of a field in transition. Gen AI isn’t just a new tool – it’s prompting a fundamental rethinking of how research gets done. While many teams began with experimentation, usage is now widespread with over two-thirds of researchers using Gen AI at least weekly.
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Gen AI Adoption Is Accelerating – But Guardrails Are Still Lacking
What’s especially notable is the openness with which companies are approaching this shift. A majority of respondents (66%) say they face little to no restrictions when using AI tools, signaling a willingness to let teams explore how and where Gen AI adds value. That flexibility has given rise to a wave of bottom-up experimentation, as well as an increasing need for strategic guidance and alignment from the top down.
Market researchers – including our team at GBK – have already found practical, high-impact use cases for Gen AI to support current research practices, from survey design and summarizing interviews to writing proposals and developing discussion guides.
And those benefits aren’t hypothetical. An overwhelming 84% of respondents believe Gen AI will have a positive impact on their work – and the same amount of respondents agree it has the potential to improve productivity and efficiency. Yet enthusiasm is tempered by concern. Many researchers worry about the risks of misinformation (77%), data security (75%), and the potential for skill gaps if AI becomes a crutch (71%).
One area where that concern is already playing out is prompt engineering. As Gen AI becomes more deeply embedded in research workflows, the ability to craft effective prompts is becoming essential. While basic tasks like summarizing documents are relatively straightforward, more complex functions – like coding open-ended responses – require greater precision and expertise.
The Four Core Applications of Gen AI in Market Research
Perhaps most striking, though, is the breadth of market research use cases now taking shape. As we discuss in a recent HBR article grounded in our study, Gen AI is not only accelerating established workflows – it’s enabling researchers to work in entirely new ways.
Our survey, paired with a framework developed in collaboration with GBK’s academic partners, revealed four primary categories of application:
Supporting Current Research Practices – Making existing workflows faster, more affordable, and easier to scale.
Replacing Traditional Methods – Using Gen AI to substitute for standard approaches, such as generating synthetic data or personas.
Filling Gaps in Market Understanding – Surfacing insights not available through conventional means, such as real-time competitive intelligence.
Creating Entirely New Types of Data & Insight – When used to create digital twins that simulate real customer behavior, preferences, and decision-making, Gen AI is opening doors to entirely new forms of insight.
These four categories not only showcase how quickly Gen AI is being integrated into research workflows – they also signal where the next wave of innovation is likely to happen.
The Road Ahead
From accelerating everyday tasks to generating entirely new sources of insight, Gen AI is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in market research. But unlocking its full potential requires more than experimentation – it takes thoughtful strategy, smart governance, and a focus on empowering teams to apply AI where it adds the most value.
Want a deeper look at how market research professionals are making Gen AI work – and which applications are gaining the most traction?
Download our full report here to explore all the findings.