At Field Notes, we believe that just because you can automate something, doesn’t mean you should automatically do it.
As we presented at IIEX Europe last year, AI has become the “new Covid” of the market research industry. Just as the pandemic forced a rush to remote tools – often at the cost of connection – the current rush to AI threatens to turn participant experiences into a series of empty interactions and black-box algorithms, compromising quality and value over time.
While many softwares choose to completely replace researchers with AI and synthetic data, our AI Manifesto is different. We believe AI should handle the legwork, so you can focus on the strategic work.
Our Manifesto: 4 Principles for Ethical AI in Mobile Ethnography
We have built our AI features on four core principles designed to protect the integrity of qualitative research while speeding up your workflow.
1. Privacy-First: Your Data is NOT Our Training Set
In an era where data security is paramount, this is our most important promise. Unlike many open AI models, research data on Field Notes is never used for training purposes. We carefully select sub-processors to ensure your participant videos remain confidential. Whether you are studying sensitive patient experiences or internal employee experiences, your data stays within your control, not in a public algorithm.
2. Human-Centricity: Evidence, Not Hallucinations
We don’t want AI to “guess” the insight or the results. We want it to find the proof. Our AI Evidence Finder allows researchers to test hypotheses and find supporting clips instantly. We provide the supporting evidence to help you mitigate the risk of delivering inaccurate or biased results.
3. Efficiency and speed
We use AI to make analysis and management of large volumes of video content quicker, allowing you to spend more time on storytelling and strategy.
4. Ease and Simplicity: No “Prompt Engineering” Required
We don’t rely on users to input detailed and complicated prompts to insights on their video diaries. Our tools – like AI-generated analysis sheets and sentiment scoring – are straightforward and customisable.
Ready to use AI responsibly?If you are looking for a platform that respects your participants and protects your data, check out our AI tools at this link.
