Humanizing Intelligence: Ifop North America Perspective from IIEX 2026
What does it really mean to “humanize intelligence” in an age shaped by AI? And as technology accelerates the pace of insight production, how can research firms evolve while remaining deeply human-oriented businesses?
IIEX North America, organized by GreenBook, remains one of the most important forums in the insights industry for exploring these questions. This year’s themes focused on the forces transforming market research, including generative AI, automation, AI ethics and governance, data fusion, sample quality, customer experience, empathetic marketing and the business value of insights.
Ifop Inc. participated alongside the wider insights community, with Alexandra Roulston, President, and Amanda Wisbeck, Manager, joining peers, customers, agencies and technology providers to listen, learn and reflect on the future of the sector.
Our key findings
Interpretation is the new competitive advantage
– AI is evolving rapidly, but human irrationality remains constant. Generative tools enable us to access data, signals and trends faster than ever before. However, the rational predictions generated by AI are not always suited to irrational human behavior, which is driven by emotion, contradiction, desire and context.
– Where AI capabilities end, human insights begin. Conducting analysis through a human prism explains why organizations like Ifop remain essential: a fine-tuned sensitivity to implicit social, behavioral and cultural dynamics, combined with interpretive expertise, remains indispensable to understanding not only what individuals say or do, but also where it comes from and why it matters.
New ways of working are needed
– The sector needs to move from methodological innovation to the transformation of operational models. The challenge is no longer just about new tools or methodologies, but about the way insights teams work, make decisions and create impact.
– Adoption will be the true test of innovation. New tools only create value when they are truly integrated into workflows, address significant business issues and produce deliverables that can be directly exploited for decision-making.
What it means to humanize intelligence
While AI accelerates access to data, our role is to provide what it cannot: context, empathy, judgment and ethical responsibility in the use of information. The future of intelligence won’t just be faster: it will have to be more human.
