Expert Roundtable
Who Owns
the Customer?
Authority, AI & the Rise of DIY Research
DATE
23rd April, 2026
TIME
9- 10.30AM EET |
3.00PM- 4.30PM SGT/MYT
FORMAT
Invite-Only · 90 Min
Limited to only 20 seats| First come first served| Register Now!
Meeting link will be sent to your registered email
— Context —
The Research Dilemma
AI tools and DIY research platforms are enabling faster decisions but at the cost of genuine customer understanding. Product managers rely on ChatGPT outputs and NPS scores while research teams are sidelined.
Structured discovery is being skipped, not always because of budget, but because of hierarchy, overconfidence, and the illusion of insight.
— Objective —
Why This Conversation
A 90-minute expert dialogue on how speed is eroding empathy and why continuous, structured customer learning matters more than ever.
This isn’t about whether AI belongs to research. It’s about ensuring we still know how to listen to customers when the algorithm can’t contextualize human insight.
Core Discussion Themes
The Authority Problem
“Who makes decisions based on customer insight → validated or not?”
AI-generated outputs lend artificial authority to unvalidated conclusions. In hierarchical Asian cultures, challenging these becomes even harder.
Why We Skip the Double Diamond
“When you’ve bypassed structured discovery, what drove that decision?”
Are barriers structural (time/money) or cultural (authority/confidence)? Compare Nordic flat hierarchies vs. Asian hierarchical decision-making.
The AI Empathy Deficit
“Are we using AI to arrive at answers without doing the work of customer understanding?”
AI synthesizes existing data but cannot uncover latent needs or cultural context that is critical in diverse Asian markets.
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY FROM THE ROUND TABLE
✓ A diagnostic framework to assess research quality vs. speed trade-offs in your organisation
✓ A peer network of practitioners navigating the same pressures across the region
