March 31, 2025
ChatGPT is all the rage right now, but just how good is it when it comes to market research? Does it deliver accurate information and useful insights? Yes, it’s free or cheap. Yes, it’s fast. But how good is the information and where does that information come from?
Many corporate managers and analysts are tempted to use AI to search for business information (market size & structure, key trends, competitor information, etc.). That’s fine, but they should NOT ignore human analysts and reports written by them to assess a market. Why? Because AI does not obtain a lot of the “hidden” or “private” information that exists, information that human analysts can find.
AI scrapes the Internet for published information. But, not all information is published!
Some information that AI CANNOT get for you:
* Revenues and operations of privately owned companies (These small and mid-sized firm don’t publish annual reports, 10Ks, quarterly reports or press releases)
* Franchise sales and information (FDDs, Franchise Disclosure Documents, are not available on the Internet, not published. They must be purchased. AI can’t get that info.
* Findings of phone interviews with competitor managements, consultants, etc., done by market analysts, that are not published anywhere.
* Results of custom surveys (mail, online, phone) performed by mkt. research firms just for a specific report (proprietary data, not on the Internet)
* Trade Association data and member surveys. Trade associations can be great sources of industry information, but they usually don’t publish it on the Internet. They may sell it, via reports, or share it with some analysts. AI won’t pick it up.
Inaccurate Information
What about the QUALITY of the data you are getting from an AI search? Today, there are lots of market research firms based in India that are churning our sub-par research, and market figures. When they release a report and a press release with these dubious figures, it gets scraped off the Internet by AI. So yes, you are getting a number (size or growth rate of a market), but that number may be way off. If a sub-par research firm says that a market or product or service is growing by 15% per year, but the REAL rate is just 3%, what does that do to your forecast, your marketing plan? Everything on the Internet is accurate, right? Believe that and we have a bridge in Brooklyn we’d like to sell you.
Do some tests with AI. Get real specific. Ask it for private company revenues. See what response you get. (“Unfortunately, the revenues for XYZ Co. are not available, since this is a privately owned company. You may want to check other sources.”)
If AI was able to obtain all the information and analyses needed to make informed decisions, then all Wall St. equity research analysts would have been fired. But that hasn’t happened. Analysts are still employed and publishing research reports for their clients.
Do you really want to go without the information that AI can’t produce? Getting incomplete or inaccurate information can hurt you, maybe even cost you your job.