I don’t know about you, but I’m on AI overload. It’s everywhere—at work, in conferences, online, in the news, in notes from my kids’ schools, and even in friends’ holiday greeting cards.

Personally I’ve tried ChatGPT and some other AI tools and found them helpful for summarizing data or helping with my writing. But is it life-changing? Not yet. I’m still looking for a killer app that will easily integrate into my personal and work life, make things easier, and make me feel safe and comfortable using it.

2024 Research on AI 

I'm not the only one very interested in AI these days. Many  Reach3 clients from a wide range of industries have been approaching us wanting to use our conversational research solutions to answer urgent and long-term business questions. 

All this interest led our team to continue our research studies on the AI landscape. As our amazing summer interns Will and Caleb shared, we used our conversation-based survey approach to talk with over 1,400 Americans, ages 13-59, who are at least somewhat familiar with AI. We were able to hear and see (video feedback!) from survey participants using our mobile messaging-based Rival Tech platform, allowing us to understand their feelings on the subject in the greatest possible detail.

Applying the Jobs To Be Done Framework to Understand AI Use Cases

For this new study, we collected our data in late July 2024, and compared findings from our study from the same time last year. In our analysis, we employed a popular approach used by marketers over the past few decades called “Jobs-to-be-Done.”

This framework, often referred to as JTBD for short, is a theory pioneered by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, based on the work of Antony Ulwick. It's based on the notion that people buy products and services to get a “job” done. The job is defined as the goal or need a consumer tries to fulfill.

Understanding these jobs and their priority for users can help companies identify where human goals are unsatisfied with existing solutions, and use this insight to shape and market new innovative products and services.

Check out our previous articles to learn about consumer sentiment on AI in 2024 and how different brands align with AI's JTBD. 

Using Conversational Research to Uncover System 1 and System 2 Thinking on AI 

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow talks about two models of thought: “System 1”, which is fast, instinctive, and emotional, and “System 2”, which is slower, more deliberate, and logical processing.

To find the top JTBDs/usages for each application area, we deployed a similar two-part approach using System 1 & 2 thinking.

System 1 Thinking

Initial hook to capture attention

For one application area, consumers were first shown a group of AI usages, and asked to quickly provide an intuition rating (👍/👎) based on their initial reaction.

This "Attention Intuition Sort" exercise provides a System 1 attention grab – usages are ranked most to least on initial hook to capture attention.

We also had people select the brand(s) that best fit the usages in their assigned application are. (You can see the results in our previous blog post.) 

System 2 Thinking

Deliberate, prompted reflection

Consumers were then shown the usages they previously rated with a 👍 and asked to provide feedback on key performance metrics via text- and video-based responses.

This section provides the following outcomes to help focus analysis and build out the usage scorecard:

✔️ Qualitative understanding of what each usage communicates across several dimensions

✔️ System 2 (deliberate and prompted) reflection, assessment across standardized performance metrics 

✔️ System 2 additional guidance on what each usage is communicating

Breaking Down System 1 and 2 Responses for AI’s Usages

Our research shows that many usages that perform well in grabbing attention (System 1) don’t do as well in reflection (System 2), or vice versa. In reality, usages and brands need a mix of both.

AI usage isn’t even in the game without a positive attention-grab reaction. For new, innovative technologies, like the AI JTBD we tested, consumers may rely more on System 2 considerations, but clearly, both systems work together. As the consultancy The Decision Lab states, “Emotions from our unconscious System 1 processes influence and complement our logical System 2 thinking, and our brain integrates the two to enable us to make purposeful decisions.”

AI usages catching the most initial attention in the System 1 category include grocery, retail, and CPG brand websites. For System 2, consumer preference is for computers/laptops, mobile phones, and banks. These all have specific AI usages to help secure and protect consumers from fraud, cyber threats, and online transactions. They also provide easy-to-understand, compelling benefits for saving money and time, offering conveniences, and improving things they are familiar with (i.e., inventory management, optimized online search, and promotions).

In our research, top-tier usages across both systems grab attention and perform well in at least one of the key Experience pillars (shareability, engagement, and impact). These include:

Tier 1:

• Social media is strong across all 3 pillars. Benefits include spam/deep fake detection, trend analysis, and content personalization and recommendations.
• Gaming is also strong across all 3 pillars. Benefits include unique features that enhance animations, player challenges and personalize the experience in ways. High potential to talk with friends and share online/social media.

“The AI generating a way for the game mechanics to be better would suit so many people. And I just feel like the game mechanics and games right now are lacking. And I would hope that the AI technology could definitely make things better for a lot of people and it would excite um a ton of gamers to be able to um incorporate better gaming mechanics because right now there's a lot of games where they're almost unplayable. So making it more realistic visually and uh making it more realistic and fighting. Um I think it would help a lot to and be a lot more fun um to see what A I could do with the game mechanics.” [She/her, age 31-40]

• CPG brand websites are strong across all pillars, especially in shareability. Benefits include fraud detection, inventory management (in stock notifications), visual search.

Tier 2:

• Digital payment apps are strongest in engagement. Benefits include being easy to integrate into daily routines, making life easier, and using it. Transaction security, user identification, and expense tracking are positive attributes.
• Computers and laptops are strongest in impact. Benefits include relevant and enhanced features that users need, such as cybersecurity threat detection, language translation, productive tools enhancement, predictive maintenance, and system optimization.
• Retail store online website is strongest in shareability. Benefits include fraud detection, inventory management (in stock notifications), visual search.

Getting Ongoing Consumer Insights on AI

Our research shows that different AI value propositions and usages work for different industries. It's not inconceivable to think that these differences become even more pronounced when looking at each company separately and their unique business, competitive and industry context. 

This need to more deeply understand the AI landscape is why some of our clients have started considering launching their own insight communities using Reach3's Community 2.0 solution. In this dynamic landscape, having access to high-quality insights from a group of real people is a huge competitive advantage. 

A huge reason why Community 2.0 works so well is because it allows us to engage participants in a fashion that seems natural and organic to the topic. We don’t talk to research participants like they’re in a lab; we talk to them like they’d be talking with their friends or family. It’s more fun for them, and you get better, more real data.

At Reach3 Insights, we’ve used chat and conversational approaches to talk with people for 6 years! We get this. Exploring AI and what JTBD best fit your audiences? Please reach out and see how we can work together.