AI for research

The jobs inside this work

Prospect background before a call

Who they are, what they do, what they might need.

Comparing suppliers

Three quotes, four specifications, no time.

Keeping half an eye on competitors

What they charge, what they claim, what they have changed.

Understanding a regulation or requirement

Enough to ask the right question of a professional.

Summarising a long document

A tender, a contract, a report you did not write.

Checking a market before you commit

Is there demand for this in your area at all?

What AI can realistically help with

• Turn scattered sources into a short brief with the sources listed.
• Summarise long documents into the points that affect a decision.
• Draft the questions you should be asking.
• Compare options side by side using criteria you set.
• Flag what it could not find, if you ask it to.

What should stay with a person

• Verifying every fact you will repeat, quote, or act on.
• Anything legal, tax, insurance, or safety related — that is a professional's job.
• Judging whether a source is credible.
• The decision itself.

Risk and review

• Invented citations and out-of-date figures are common. Insist on links and open them.
• Do not paste confidential documents into a general assistant without checking its terms.
• A brief that sounds authoritative is not the same as one that is correct.