Hi there,
A couple of years ago I was working on an in-house project where the team had a persona they'd always quietly deprioritised. Middle management, not the decision-maker, not the power user. Easy to push to the margins.
The research told a different story. She was shaping the shortlist, bridging the technical and business case, and the actual decision-maker relied on her more than anyone had realised.
If we'd relied on AI to refresh those personas, we'd have missed her entirely.
That's because AI works from the assumptions you already carry.
It updates the language, sharpens the format, makes everything look more considered. It won't tell you that you have too many personas and need to focus on one or two. It won't help you dig into the relationships between them, who influences who, who actually holds the power in the room.
I wrote about this recently — what real research surfaces that AI can't, and what it costs when that work gets skipped. Read it here →
Hit reply if you've had the same experience in your own work. I'd love to hear it.
Talk soon,
Grace
