Authored by Will Johnson via RealClear Wire

We've long been warned about robots taking our jobs, but now they're coming for our opinions as well.

Caller ID, mobile phones, and cord-cutters have long since forced market researchers and pollsters to conduct surveys online rather than reaching people by telephone. Solving the supply problem, however, created a problem of quality, with fraudsters spamming surveys with fake replies.

On balance, it has been a fruitful move: Market research has become an $81 billion global industry. But the AI revolution has empowered bad actors, threatening the very quality of the research which undergirds global business strategy. While not insurmountable, this challenge is the latest reminder that market researchers must be ever-vigilant to shifting threats.