Derrick McLean

The synthetic research conversation has outpaced the evidence. This session closes the gap. Qualtrics' Kayla Schou and Derrick McLean share raw results from synthetic pilots with three enterprise brands—spanning consumer travel, insurance, and digital banking—across three distinct use cases: rapid concept filtering to eliminate non-starters before human validation, insights-first persona segmentation that compresses weeks of analysis into days, and market signal augmentation that reveals trends beyond your existing customer base. Each pilot maps to a practical pattern for where synthetic stands on its own and where human data belongs alongside it. No theoretical frameworks. Just what worked, what didn't, and the decision logic you can apply to your own research questions.

The synthetic research market has exploded—over $1.5B in venture funding, a dozen platforms with compelling demos, and no shortage of impressive-sounding accuracy stats. But how do you separate research-grade tools from confident noise? In this session, Derrick McLean from Qualtrics cuts through the performance claims and evaluation frameworks that have been flooding the market—breaking down what's worth paying attention to and what's not. You'll learn what questions to ask any synthetic vendor about model training, validation methodology, and being a good AI partner. Derrick opens the hood on how Qualtrics' synthetic model is built: the research-grade data that trains it and the validation that proves it. Come skeptical. Leave equipped.