What do research agents like Deep Research mean for user researchers?
Promotional image from OpenAI showing an example of Deep Research for UX Design
Should user researchers prepare to move into the role of “orchestrating and validating the work of AI systems” like OpenAI’s Deep Research?
Interesting commentary from Ethan Mollick this morning:
For the first time, an AI isn't just summarizing research… [It’s] already capable of performing work that once required teams of highly-paid experts or specialized consultancies.
These experts and consultancies aren't going away - if anything, their judgment becomes more crucial as they evolve from doing the work to orchestrating and validating the work of AI systems.
A couple of caveats are in order here:
I don’t know that any third party has really had time to thoroughly test OpenAI’s Deep Research yet; and
Deep Research only really applies to desk research, which is a relatively small part of the job of most user researchers.
But it still got me wondering how researchers might respond to the job of orchestrating and validating, rather than directly conducting research.
I see some researchers already jumping into an “orchestrating” approach headlong, and looking a lot more like market researchers in the process. (This is neither good nor bad, but it is a different model. Many market researchers have been approaching their work this way for years, coordinating multiple large-scale vendor-led studies at once, and integrating their findings into comprehensive recommendations.)
I know other researchers who define their identity more around human-to-human empathy and storytelling, and I’m not sure the role of orchestrator would be as personally fulfilling.
“Validation” is a whole other kettle of fish, and highly dependent upon how the research is being used. I don’t know that many research teams have the resources and training in place to adequately validate 13 pages of AI research at scale for high-stakes decision-making. And in cases where the stakes are lower, how much validation is worth the effort?
This is all part of a much larger conversation. I’ll be talking more about AI for research at Rosenfeld Media’s Advancing Research 2025, and I’m curating an entire conference around Designing with AI.
Or, if you’re looking for more guidance on integrating AI with your own research practice, I consult with product/design managers and teams (contact me here). I do not claim to have all the answers, but I work hard to help my clients understand the true trade-offs involved in non-traditional (read: AI) research.