Rethinking Research: AI, Ethics, and the Human Factor

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AI is rewriting the rules — and everyone wants in. This week, Karen Lynch and Lenny Murphy dive into the wave of change sweeping through the insights industry. From a record-breaking AI event drawing thousands of professionals to a multi-billion-dollar acquisition reshaping the data landscape, they explore how innovation, competition, and ethics are colliding in real time.

It’s a candid look at what’s driving the momentum — and how to stay human in a world that’s moving faster than ever.

Many thanks to our producer, Karley Dartouzos. 

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Transcript

[00:01] Lenny Murphy: There we go. All right. Hello, everybody. Happy Friday. Karen and I were just venting about life just being disruptive today.

[00:13] Karen Lynch: It is, it is. And you know, it's funny because there's some times in life where work is stressful and then there's other times when home is stressful. So the good news is work is not stressful this week.

[00:28] Lenny Murphy: Knock on wood, right this moment.

[00:30] Karen Lynch: Right now things are really good. Can I just do a shout out for our AI event? You know, we didn't talk about this and I didn't put it in the brief and Karley, you don't have a thing to put up for it or anything, but our AI event last year, we are at like over 2,100 registrants. And, you know, this is our third year doing this event and it's the highest, you know, so far we've hovered in the high, you know, double digits, you know, 1,700, I think. I think it was like 1800 previous years. So we're over 2100 at this point. And you know, we have a very high attendance rate for this particular virtual event. So I'm just jazzed for next week. Like professionally, I am really excited. And I've talked to a few different speakers and it's just, anyway, I'm really excited for next week. So I think by the time Friday comes along, we'll have a lot to debrief Lenny.

[01:23] Lenny Murphy: And boy, what the buzz is is not going down. Apparently, apparently. What's up with that? And a quick real note. I mean, I'm really into the grid data now. Yeah. And yeah, guys, just just wait. I can't wait. I can't wait. No, I mean, just in the AI la la la. We're gonna get into it here in just a minute.

[01:51] Karen Lynch: Right? Yeah.

[01:52] Lenny Murphy: There's just nothing. It is the defining technological transformation in the world and especially in our industry.

[02:01] Karen Lynch: Yeah. It just, and I, and I just think it's just, just keeps getting stronger and stronger. And, um, anyway, so yeah, like super jazzed about it really, you know, so excited for next week. So excited for all the speakers and everything that they're bringing to the table and, um, how we have it all mapped out. So, um, so make sure you're registered for IAX AI. Next week, you know, it's pretty straightforward Google search. If you, since I, you know, Karley's on the spot without the link, or maybe she's probably by now put it in the chat or something like that. So, cause that would be like her, but anyway, yeah, get yourself registered. It's a free virtual event. I think you have to pay to access it on demand, but it's going to be fantastic. And we've had emails from brand side, at least one brand side team who's like, Hey, how do I register 90 employees?

[02:50] Lenny Murphy: And that was like a tech company, right?

[02:52] Karen Lynch: That was a very well-known tech company. So I was like, OK, I see you. Thank you for that vote of confidence.

[03:01] Lenny Murphy: Right. Like, oh, you have something to learn about this? From us, from us, yeah. We thought you were creating all of this. Yeah, I know.

[03:10] Karen Lynch: Really cool. I'm really excited for next week. Cool.

[03:15] Lenny Murphy: Well, that's a segue. It is a segue. You might as well, there's an elephant in the room, right? Big news this week.

[03:21] Lenny Murphy: Big news this week.

[03:23] Karen Lynch: Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead and make sure everybody knows we're all on the same page. What was the big news story this week? Yes.

[03:30] Lenny Murphy: The big one this week, and it was big, was Qualtrics buying Prescani Forsta for $6.75 billion, which seems like a really big number, but actually I did the math. Qualtrics has about $1.5 -1.5 billion in revenue. Press Ganey Force is about revenue. So collectively, 3 billion in revenue when all is done. So a 6x multiplier, effectively, roughly, for Press Ganey. Not a crazy, stupid multiplier for these types of deals. It's actually pretty reasonable, which you would expect from a Sequoia backing a private equity group, backing a deal like this. And of course, lots of comments all over. I will give my take real quick. This was not about Forsta. That's not what this deal was about. It was two things, and they were pretty clear about what those two things were. It was a huge presence in healthcare, specifically. In data. Yeah, that's what this was about. What happens to our confirmant users of decipher users? My bet is it's gonna be sunset at some point over the last couple years. I don't think Qualtrics wants that technology. Maybe they'll keep it running for a while. Maybe they'll reposition it. Maybe they'll be like a Qualtrics light or custom Maybe but that was not what this was about This wasn't even about market owning the market research space That's a side that obviously they do now. They have a large user base across traditional research. It's all about healthcare data. Yeah.

[05:18] Karen Lynch: Yeah. And, and kind of owning the patient experience. Yes. Uh, you know, both the data sets and the execution of it. So I think it's interesting, the LinkedIn thread. So there was, obviously everybody in the Qualtrics organization was sharing this broadly. So, um, So you can go to those, but those are, of course, hyping it up. And there've been a lot of side conversations. There's one in the WIRE exec thread. And of course, we've had ours internally. But this one thread that I pulled out, Sean Jordan, president at the Research and Planning Group. What was interesting about it was he started saying, OK, I want the alternatives out there. And he's like, who's talking about QuestionPro? Someone else was like, who's talking about Quantalope? All of a sudden, everybody else is like, OK, who are our forces? Substitutes then. And that's an interesting thread because they are calling out socially the problems that they see about how the experience has been using one or two of those other platforms. And wait a minute, I love to cipher. They're just calling out the problems with the providers, which is unusual in social media professionally. People haven't gone there on LinkedIn before where they're like, I don't like this one. I don't like this one. They often share who they do like, but, um, this is an interesting thread. So if I were in this space, I'd be like, I want to know what they're talking about. And a lot of known entities in the industry are chiming in. Um, so that's why I earmarked this thread. I'm like any vendor in this space who, um, has a vested interest in this, like paying attention to what's being said either about your company or, um, or about these others, this is your competition too. So interesting, interesting.

[07:05] Lenny Murphy: Yes. Well, I think that there's a couple, let's, let's send this just for another minute. Cause I think there's a few layers here to think about, um, that have popped out as well. I mean, consolidation is what happens, right? How did Ipsos become Ipsos? How did Cantor become Cantor? How did, you know, Nielsen, I mean, in our space, uh, that you buy stuff, right. Um, and you put it together and you create, um, one, What you're hoping for is 1 1 3 so right how to to unlock more value on the surface this looks like absolutely that type of deal right the You're buying growth and you're buying opportunities for For new things to manifest. Yeah, so at a financial level that's just the way things work. Yeah, but that also works downstream because it's also a big signal. Now, when consolidation happens with a big play like that, then the kind of mid-market tier, they start looking and going, Oh, well, what's our one plus one equals three, right? What other companies are available that we should be looking at, potentially? So they play in the space and, you know, how can you combine them to create more opportunities? So, so this, this will signal, I suspect, another wave of consolidation, which we're kind of expecting. We'll see other deals happen with other players in competitive response. And we'll also, once consolidation happens, there's always blowback, right? And there's also like, wait, now you're this big behemoth and where's my account? I'm losing service, I want personalization. And new companies step up to fill that gap. So from an ecosystem standpoint, it's actually, I consider it very good news at a macro level, right? There's money flowing into the industry, people recognize the value of data, they recognize the value of research data, even if it's more CX centric, more companies are going to be part of it. Of deal flow, and more companies are going to emerge to fill in the gaps to take on the big guys. And so I think it's a very healthy sign.

[09:32] Karen Lynch: Yeah, and I mean, it's a human wish, right? If you think about all patient experience work is intended to address the patient experience and improve it. So if we, you know, put some rose-colored glasses on, and we stay idealistic, this could be a great stride towards the end goal, which is improving patient outcomes. And I feel like even though there may be criticism about how we get there and how they're getting there, and is this, you know, I think I read one comment where they're like, is this even legal? Isn't this a monopoly now? And isn't this problematic? And all that stuff. And I'm like, you know, it's not.

[10:12] Lenny Murphy: And, you know, perhaps we'll have better health outcomes which is really what again the ultimate goal is on a personal level so yeah yes and that's and that is so it'll be interesting to see how they do that I mean Prescani you know this for that my starting research was working in health care satisfaction research yeah yeah run the fun room so and I remember we competed against Prescani back in the day yeah and you know satisfaction studies usually just sit in the silo so to your point This is really good. This can expand that. And if I recall correctly, this isn't about pharma. This is really about hospitals, practitioners, those, the actual patient-facing side of healthcare. And yeah, let's see what they can do. If they can unlock all that, do it in an ethical way, privacy, all those things.

[11:04] Karen Lynch: Exactly. Keeping the data safe and secure, and that would be critical, but I'm sure they were working on it. That is not something that they're taking lightly. Both of those organizations, I think, take that very seriously.

[11:17] Lenny Murphy: Right. Well, they have to. It's kind of existential, right? Yeah. And we're both at the age, we've had parents with health issues, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, this is a big deal. Let's be optimistic. It's different. Share those competitive concerns. Will it be service issues?

[11:35] Karen Lynch: Yes. All those things are valid and real.

[11:39] Lenny Murphy: But it should create value. And I don't mean just monetary value. I mean like real value for the entire, for the industry as a whole and for people. So, yeah.

[11:52] Karen Lynch: We'll keep watching. We'll keep watching. This other one that's considered acquisition is, you know, I don't know these players and it's, and largely it's because one of them just launched in 2023 and they're already acquiring others, which I think is really interesting. So a company called Potentia Insight acquired DataTree Connections to boost up their digital research with expanded market data and analytics capabilities. And so this is a research live article that we saw. But what's interesting is, Potentia lost in 2023. And later that same year, they acquired a data science consultancy, called SIGDIF, to advance their analytics capabilities. So I just think that's very interesting. That they've launched, they've acquired, they've now acquired again. Like they are growing through acquisition, which is a strategy that I hope serves them well. But yeah, anyway, that was kind of my two cents on it.

[12:50] Lenny Murphy: That's my point. Yes. Well, I don't know much about them either. So all I could add is it is looking at their acquisitions. There is a rhyme and reason. It's not just, they're not just like gobbling up to, you know, there seems to be a strategy. Which is data and likely focused. So that's a, and yes, I have no idea. My guess is that, you know, the founding of it was based on people with money with a very specific strategy on how it was going to go to do that. So what is it? It's all about data. It's an unlocking value of the data, which is a good segue to- Yeah, yeah.

[13:29] Karen Lynch: Take it away. Yeah.

[13:32] Lenny Murphy: You know, descent and affinity solutions to combine consumer purchase insights with since audience network, behavioral, and, and attitudinal, and not just that attitudinal within scent, you know, but I think this is all tied to their media business, the media measurement and looking at that.

[13:53] Karen Lynch: So they're trying to get to some type of attribution, which is an affinity, isn't it about, isn't it transaction data, isn't that part of what they, you know, so here we are, where I feel like this is a recurring theme. It's this transaction data across the board, we've known it's out there, and it exists. And it's all these purchases that we're doing now being, you know, linked very closely to insights providers, to make sense out of all those purchase transitions. Like, let's just not let this data sit out there.

[14:24] Lenny Murphy: This data is confusing. Anyway, Yeah, there are big businesses out there that do that. Affinity is one of them. I think what stands out is for a company like Scent, that this is a sample provider recognizing that sample is not the core driver of the business. So they are taking their asset, which is access to people and information on those people, combining that with another data set that unlocks more value in the data. So yes, we've been talking about this now for years. And we're going to see more of this, you know, there's a lot of behavioral players out there, you know, Curious and Behavix and, you know, these other companies that are RealityMind, you know, lots of folks that are trying to make these connections, but they need to scale. Sint provides the possibility of scale because of their overall reach and global presence. So will we see, excuse me, Dynata, you know, other big players do this? Yes. I would say that we will see more and more of this because one, it's the, as surveys decline, which we've been expecting and predicting is going to happen, that's the core driver of the revenue is a transactional aspect of surveys. You got to replace that. So, uh, this is my guess is probably a subscription business. They didn't say that, but I, that's what I would guess it's going to be. That's a great business model from a revenue standpoint. Um, and yeah, so, uh, you know, the things that we've been talking about for a few years to say, this is what was, we'll, we'll start seeing these things now we're seeing those things and not credit for it. It was just kind of obvious when you look at the transformation because of AI and disruption, these are the things that were going to start happening. And, yep. Speaking of AI, I mean, we might as well, yeah, let's jump into it.

[16:34] Karen Lynch: Here we are about halfway through our show. Pretty damn good. But this one was really interesting. I played around with it a little bit too. So Quantalope launched an AI powered category entry point generator to surface buying triggers and accelerated brand growth. And if you click and follow some links, their category entry points, they're defining them as the needs, occasions, reasons, and motivations that trigger a consumer to buy from a specific category. So you can enter in kind of your brand, your category, a few basic questions, and it's going to generate for you these moments, these triggers and from a kind of a behavioral science standpoint, if you can understand the triggers, right? Then you're in this kind of like, you're in this ecosystem of then understanding how to speak in those moments, right? When the trigger is occurring, how to get your brand recognizable in those moments, how to address the needs, et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah. So yeah, very cool. And it's, I think the, like other models out there in a lot of platforms, the first few queries are free. So you can go in there and experiment with your brand. I love a good AI power generator. I just think it's cool. And, you know, get some insights, check it out, see what they've got going on.

[18:09] Lenny Murphy: Cause it's pretty neat. So let's both think of these researcher hats, right? Yeah. So it's early stage ideation and concept testing, right? Second day of research.

[18:19] Karen Lynch: Right.

[18:20] Lenny Murphy: OK, cool. Very iterative, very effective, very cheap, I guess. Now, what does that trigger? Oh, all right, well, let's put a little more meat on the bone and test the concept maybe with synthetic.

[18:36] Karen Lynch: Yeah.

[18:36] Lenny Murphy: Quality synthetic. Right. OK, now I've narrowed it from 10 things to two. So now let's go test it. And if you do that all in one platform and it's a seamless workflow, you know, and that's pretty great. Right.

[18:53] Karen Lynch: And that's a big unlock. So like the next one, segueing to the next little blurb that we have Stravito releasing their AI personas on this, on their landing page, they have a case study they're used by Lavazza Group, which if you're a coffee drinker, you know, like you'll like it the way I did, you know, early stage, you know, idea validation. So it's, we're not talking about, you know, the big, the big, the big testing, right? We're talking about stress testing these early ideas, to your point, using their new tool, which I think we've talked about for a few weeks now. Like, that is really where there is gold in these, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty cool. Like, yes, I'd like to stress test this in an easy, in less expensive way. Yep. Narrow down that list, you know, get your ideas going, then converge on some of those ideas before you put them out there into the world.

[19:47] Lenny Murphy: Yep. And I think for StriVito, they're a knowledge management platform, right? So you store all your research and then unlock with, you know, additional analysis. I mean, that was the core. So now to take it further and create more value off of that data, because I'm sure those personas are created off of, you know, your existing data and make it more of a, it's not just a repository of information anymore. It is a tool to actually fill that cycle of engendering more research or creating more value out of the data. Very smart. I'm sure all of their competitors, well, I know that they are, that MarketLogic, they're doing similar things, right? We've seen that makes perfect sense. And we do that, don't you do that with I do perplexity and all the time. So load up all my data, you know, unlock value. Now they're just doing it very, at an enterprise level behind those firewalls. So very cool.

[20:51] Karen Lynch: Yeah, it was cool.

[20:52] Lenny Murphy: Yeah. All right. Talk about, why don't you talk about D-Scout?

[20:56] Karen Lynch: Well, to me, I'm like, of course, you know, so D-Scout, actually I was one of the very early users of D-Scout. I really liked it. I was like, oh, this is cool. As a platform back in the day. D-Scout announced their D-Scout AI, promoting faster, deeper qualitative research, right? You know, to me, that's natural. D-Scout, you know, was doing qual at scale, you know, almost like my first use case with that was ethnography at scale, like taking pictures of your dinner plate kind of ethnography at scale. And so I was seeing hundreds of dinner plates so that we could, you know, inform the product development for the food service company that I was working at, et cetera, et cetera. But to me, to me, I'm like, yes, of course, it's, you know, no shade to D-Scout, because I love them as a platform, and I'm glad they have this, but this is what, to me, this is like, yes, of course, we're going to have more and more of these, like, yes, of course you need AI in your mix, like, this is not, it in and of itself is not, it's like, yes, table stakes, you have to have it, especially quality scale right now, A lot of buzz at the SMR Congress was about qual. And like, yes, of course, there's use cases for, you know, the human approach to qualitative, but also lots of conversation about qual at scale and, you know, AI qual and all that. It's everywhere because no matter what, we still need to understand, right? So anyway, that's kind of my high horse about that is like, yes, like if you have you should be exploring these things. If you have a platform, you should be exploring AI assist for QualatScale.

[22:32] Lenny Murphy: It's probably a segue, we should give a shout out to our sponsor for the exchange, which is conveo.ai, QualatScale platform. Last week, I had Niels on.

[22:41] Karen Lynch: Yes.

[22:43] Lenny Murphy: Also did a great podcast interview with Hendrik, one of the co-founders. Really, you guys listen to it. When it comes out, it's really cool.

[22:50] Karen Lynch: Yes, very cool. Yes.

[22:53] Lenny Murphy: Of the conversation with Hendrick of like, it's kind of like everybody's doing this now, right? And no shade on anyone. It's because it's successful. I mean, and there's money flowing. We've seen big VC money to Conveo, to their competitors as well. There's Buzz. There's another big ass VC round going to a company in that space that should be announced soon Yeah Yeah, that's because it just makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

[23:29] Karen Lynch: Yep No, I know and somebody just reached out to me on LinkedIn from Stanford University's lab. They're working on you know, they're working on that. I'm like, oh, yes, and of course, you know the Competition winners listen, like of course they're out there doing this. So yeah, like so I don't mean to you know, undervalue it, but it's like, yes, period. Yes. Yes, period.

[23:54] Lenny Murphy: Right. Well, if we go back to the very beginning, I mean, Qualtrics, it's a survey platform. Yeah. And they're multi-billion dollar valuation and et cetera, et cetera. And these, what are they doing? Using the data and unlocking it. And there's a thread through all of these that show the value.

[24:11] Karen Lynch: The thread is we still need to understand human beings.

[24:16] Lenny Murphy: Yes.

[24:17] Lenny Murphy: We still need to ask them questions.

[24:20] Karen Lynch: Sometimes we can ask a closed-ended question. Sometimes we need deeper meaning with an open-ended question. We still need to ask the questions.

[24:28] Lenny Murphy: 100%. And even if we get to the point where we're testing these things at the beginning, because we have personas and all that good stuff, there's still a whole bunch of whys and unknowns that still need to be captured. So I'm going to mention this real quick. I had heard it mentioned. Rumor has it. Rumor has it. And so there was a panel and Simon Chadwick and Kristen Luck and Simon made a comment that I thought the industry was doomed. And I heard about it. And I was like, I never said that! And I didn't. What I did say is that there's changes. We were evolving rapidly. And we're talking about that, right, in the impacts on business models, etc, etc. But to your point, the need to understand humans, to help sell more stuff, because that's ultimately where we get to, right? It's never been more important. We just have different tools and those different tools are changing the dynamics of how we do things. But fundamentally, that core, it's wonderful. We're in a great spot. So, all right, I'm off my high horse. Why don't we get to, and nothing but love for you, Simon, in Kristen, by the way. So I'm used to being taken out of...

[25:47] Karen Lynch: This goes to show you how, yes, how people can get taken out of context. So...

[25:52] Lenny Murphy: It's like a telephone, right? But...

[25:53] Karen Lynch: I know, absolutely, absolutely.

[25:55] Lenny Murphy: But go listen to past, you know, exchanges and podcasts.

[26:00] Karen Lynch: Yeah, and I think, you know, it bears not to, not to beat this particular dead horse, but it bears repeating, or bears repeating that, you know, yes, basically, you have to evolve and grow or else you perhaps will be obsolete. This is a time in history when evolution is essential, right? In this business space, you have to do these things because the rate of change is so great that if you are not changing and putting efforts towards your future strategy, then you will have problems. So while the industry is not doomed, companies will be, and that's the hard truth, right?

[26:41] Lenny Murphy: And it's always been that. How many phone rooms are there now? Not many, right? I mean, it's just a fact. So we evolve. We evolve.

[26:52] Lenny Murphy: All right.

[26:53] Lenny Murphy: Speaking of evolution.

[26:56] Karen Lynch: Yeah. Yeah. The thing is, did you get a chance to play with these? So OpenAI introduced apps in ChatGPT, so you can have an app-like experience there. So I played because one of the apps that was in there is Zillow, for example, that is connected. So I went into Zillow via chat GPT and I was like, tell me what's on the market in XYZ town. And I got a bunch of listings right there in chat GPT and kind of nodded. And I was like, I'm not quite sure. And this is what goes kind of hand in hand with the next thing. We're going to talk about it. But I'm like, all right, I'm not quite sure this is faster and better for me than going on to Zillow.com or opening my Zillow app. Like I'm just on a different platform. And you can do similar things, right? You can check Spotify. You can be like, you know, tell me, you know, find me a playlist or something. I'm not sure it's better than going right to the app itself until you start to go down the trail of the agents, agentic AI. And so open AI can currently in last week unveiled their agent kit, which is helping kind of the backend developers kind of, you know, get a play here too. So, you know, I might have a user experience in chat GPT, but now there's going to be agentic assists. So if I wanted to work in chat GPT, for example, look up, find a listing, Ooh, I wanna, I wanna go see that one. And it might then make the next steps, which is to schedule my viewing or something. So that's how that's all going to come together within a very usable platform like ChatGPT. So, Instacart is coming soon. So remember I was telling you, like, I wouldn't mind finding a recipe in ChatGPT and then saying, yeah, add it to my grocery cart. Okay, why don't you just have it delivered to my house? That is coming sooner than I fathomed.

[28:54] Lenny Murphy: Yeah, yeah.

[28:55] Lenny Murphy: Well, and Karen, you'll be proud of me. We even talked about this. So, you know, we're, I mean, no surprise. We're playing with, with, you know, like a green book agent. And of course we are because everybody is. So, uh, so I was asked to go into chat GPT and open, which I don't use and use their builder and to create the, uh, create the agent.

[29:16] Karen Lynch: And I went in with, which by the way, I just want to say on the record loud for everybody. I drafted one well over a year ago. Yes. Yes. I know. So you'll be proud of me. I know it all.

[29:27] Lenny Murphy: So 100% you've been talking about, yeah, I got this agent doing this and that and the other and I'm like, I'm still all manual. And guys, I mean, I gotta tell you, it was the easiest damn thing. It was no different than writing a prompt. So there was a wizard that talked me through different components of you know, to do this and then I passed it off to our dev team. To do whatever they need to do to connect it, but it was, I knew it intellectually, but to just do that thing, right? To go from sticking my, from looking at the pool to putting my foot in the water, right?

[30:06] Karen Lynch: It was- It's so cool. Well, yeah, now I'm already, in my free time, which is really more of a distraction time, so my mind doesn't ruminate on other things at the moment, but I'm also working in Loveable on building something brand new that has nothing to do with Green Book at all. But that's what this time is like, here's the reason why this is important. That's what this time warrants. This time warrants experimentation. What can I build? What is possible? Because once you start to explore what's possible for things that are interesting to you, then you can guide your companies into what's possible for this firm. And that's the playing that needs to happen. You know, I think I want to jump up before we go back to, let's certainly talk about that other one, that report that you have that you found at the bottom, the Horowitz report about AI applications, a spending report. If you go into that- For startups. For startups. If you go into it, one of the things that's really cool is it has this list of what they're using and kind of they've broken it down with like how they're using it. So, of course there's some really cool use cases that I was like, like, I've never heard of this particular note taker. What's cool about that one? Or I've never heard about this email assist. Like, really cool to look at, like, the top 50. And of course, like OpenAI, ChatGPT is, you know, like, number one on the list, of course. But it's very cool to look at some of them and be like, oh, I've heard of this one. Ooh, this one I've never experimented with. What are these startups finding? Like, how are these startups who are scrappy, known for being scrappy, for having to just get what they can get quickly, you know? Anyway, it's very cool. I really like that report. From, you know, creative tools to vibe coding and, you know, different iterations in between email assist and note-taking and pretty, really, I love that report. So play, it's time to play, people.

[32:06] Lenny Murphy: Yeah, and let's tie that back to the earlier comments about, you know, this macro stuff, right? The barrier to entry of creating a solution and bringing it to market is lower than it has ever been. Now, you know, it still has to be a good idea and it's got to find white space, you know, I mean all those basic businesses elements were there, but to your point, to be able to experiment and bring something to life and get it out there and see is not a heavy lift at this point. It's not a significant investment and we are seeing evidence of, you know, already over the past few years, listening labs, Conveo, you know, they went through that process, a couple guys with an idea, you know, two guys in a truck kind of thing.

[32:51] Karen Lynch: And it's only getting easier. This work that's out of these universities, like, you know, the Stanford AI group, they're able to think, they're working on real-time products, but they're also, you know, they're doing this early stage AI, A-B testing on their early ideas. They are walking the walk at an institution like that to get things out there. Anyway,

[33:15] Lenny Murphy: Pretty cool. All right. Why don't you handle this last one, being a dedicated Samsung user, as you hold your glasses. As I hold my glasses.

[33:29] Karen Lynch: This one was a matter of time, but Apple glasses. We've talked about the Metaglass, the Ray-Bans, but these are going to be Apple glasses that, you know, have an integration with your phone, with your iPhone. It's coming, 2026, 2027, so they've kind of talked about it. It is definitely hitting the market later than their competitors, right, admittedly, but what do we know about that kind of thing from Apple? Apple is going to, I have very high hopes. They don't have to be the first, but they're probably going to strive to be the best. And there's a damn good chance it's going to happen for them. I'm like, yep, I can see that. So they're rumored to have multiple cameras on their health tracking, again, iPhone integration. We're not putting down our phones anytime soon. And I think that's what's been interesting about the metaglasses. One of the barriers for me is sort of like, I don't want to get to know my metaglass. I walk around with my iPhone every day. That is not, that connectivity is going to make me an easier customer, right? Because, you know, hey, like I'm in the iPhone ecosystem. So that makes sense to me anyway. 2026, Yep. Yep.

[34:53] Lenny Murphy: We've been talking about wearables for a while and we're just kind of like, oh, la, la, la. But it follows the money. I mean, it's, it's, it's going there. What does that do in the world of connected data, right? It's just going to expand all of that even more, the research applications. I mean, there's big implications for, massive implications across the board.

[35:16] Karen Lynch: News cases also. Okay. So here's, here's the product idea for, for the companies that haven't thought about this already, but imagine I get a push survey on my phone. Yo, I see that you've just gone into Walmart, you know, head to the, head to the bread, the bread aisle. I did shelf testing in the bread aisle, so that's always like the first one to come. Anyway, head to the bread aisle and show me how you choose your favorite. And now my glasses take over, right? So the survey's on my phone, I read it, I'm interacting, glasses are now taking over. So there's this hybrid period of time where that will be usable and doable as opposed to just somebody whispering into my ear or projecting the question. It becomes a nice iteration, an iterative step of how to integrate the two different types of technology early on. That will be easy for people.

[36:04] Lenny Murphy: And likely, or potentially, not done via a panel, simply as a user, as an opt-in. Do you want to receive offers when you're just doing your general opt-in? And for that to be an agentic system that's popping in, and so the order may still come through a sample company or a research company, that may still happen, but the idea of you know, it's a river sample on steroids, right? I mean, it's, you know, the potential to, to randomly engage with people and create a revenue stream. Oh, Hey, you know, you're looking at the bread, you know, here's a buck or here's a buck off of your purchase. You know? I mean, there's so many interesting opportunities as we head into that. So yeah. Brave new world.

[36:52] Karen Lynch: All right.

[36:54] Lenny Murphy: You've got stuff to do for the don't know Karen's house is on the market. And so she's also this weekend. So if it's for all of us who have Yeah, it's the best way to do it. Just do one open house by God.

[37:07] Karen Lynch: I just get all the offers there and we go because you can't live like from your lips to God's ears as they say about that one weekend on the market. So we've never done this before. We have lived in our I mean, I had sold condos when I was in my 20s. But we have lived in this house for 28 years. It is no small task. And, um, there's a million reasons why we're doing this. And, um, joy of the process is not one of them.

[37:36] Lenny Murphy: I hear you, uh, knock on wood, you know, sending good vibes. That's how it worked. Hopefully you'll have the Lenny luck on this. That's what we did one weekend. We had three offers. Um, and by Wednesday. It's like, this is a good enough offer to just move on, right? And we could have, oh, let's hold out for more. No, this is totally fine.

[38:02] Karen Lynch: The jury is out on that because we don't have to move. We actually really like our house a lot. This is not right. It's just that we have a forward view. And we're not going far. It's not like we need to move out of state. We both work remotely, so it's not like we have to shorten a commute.

[38:18] Lenny Murphy: You're not going to Kentucky?

[38:19] Karen Lynch: Yeah, we're not doing Kentucky. We're not, there's no farm in our future. But, um, but yeah, like, so, so, so we would like an offer to come in if it doesn't meet, you know, if it's not, if it doesn't feel right, we're not, you know, so jury's out. We'll talk about it next week. I'll let you know how our week went and what we ultimately decided. We'll see.

[38:40] Lenny Murphy: Yes. Well, fingers crossed.

[38:43] Karen Lynch: Send good vibes. Yes.

[38:44] Lenny Murphy: Sending good vibes. The, uh, yeah, it is, it is, if you haven't sold your house, guys. Getting ready to sail is just the biggest pain in the ass imaginable. And keep that in mind if you're buying a house, you go in, oh, look, it's so beautiful and everything.

[38:59] Karen Lynch: And it was a lot of work when I also was overseas in Prague and then went to, you know, family weekend at my daughter's university.

[39:07] Karen Lynch: Like I was prepping- And then get ready for this.

[39:09] Lenny Murphy: Yeah, you had no time.

[39:12] Karen Lynch: I am not okay.

[39:13] Lenny Murphy: All right. On that note, everybody had a wonderful weekend. Karen, thank you and good luck. Oh, yeah, of course. Thank you all.

[39:22] Karen Lynch: We'll see you next week.

[39:23] Lenny Murphy: Yeah. Oh, but last shout out to our sponsor, Conveo.ai, and also Karley, who is in the background making it all work. So yeah, big, big props to everybody. All right, everyone take care.

[39:35] Karen Lynch: Thank you all.

[39:35] Lenny Murphy: Bye bye.

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OpenAI introduced “Apps in ChatGPT” 

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Apple Glasses are coming: Here’s every rumored new feature 

OpenAI unveiled AgentKit