AI for Customer Research: Future-Proof Your UX & Product Skills

4.7 (98)

John Whalen, PhD

AI Research Expert | Johns Hopkins PhD

Create Customer Insights with AI You Can Actually Trust

If you're anxious that AI might make your skills obsolete, you're not alone. Customer research is changing fast—and whether you're a seasoned researcher or a designer or PM now expected to gather insights, you need to create results you can trust in an AI-powered world. Here's the challenge: AI tools promise speed and scale, but can you trust the output? How do you maintain quality while leveraging AI's power? The gap is widening. Some teams spend weeks gathering insights manually while AI-confident practitioners deliver trustworthy results in days at 10x scale. The difference isn't just speed—it's who gets invited to strategic conversations, who leads high-impact projects, and who shapes decisions with confidence. This course gives you frameworks to evaluate quality and trust. You'll access enterprise-grade tools, learn from founders building these platforms, and develop critical judgment to distinguish reliable insights from AI noise. You'll try tools yourself and form your own conclusions. No hype. Just practical expertise from someone who's tested hundreds of tools and knows what delivers trustworthy insights.

What you’ll learn

Gain hands-on mastery of AI research tools and frameworks to deliver trusted insights faster while maintaining the rigor that matters.

Set up AI-moderated studies using enterprise platforms (Listen Labs, Userology, Wondering, Vurvey) with proper participant recruitment
Experience being a participant in AI-moderated interviews to understand the user perspective and design more effective research protocol
Master dynamic AI follow-ups by learning when and when not to use adaptive questioning to get deeper insights without losing control

Process large qualitative datasets quickly using AI tools (Coloop, Marvin) to surface themes and patterns at scale
Maintain research rigor throughout AI-assisted analysis by identifying where human judgment is essential for quality and accuracy
Build truly strategic insights by combining AI speed with critical thinking to deliver recommendations that drive decisions and action

Test AI tools hands-on with real research scenarios, comparing outputs across platforms to understand strengths and weaknesses
Build evaluation criteria for quality, reliability, and fit—so you can confidently choose tools that enhance (not undermine) your work
Learn from tool founders through guest sessions with creators of leading platforms, understanding roadmaps and what's truly possible

Generate synthetic user personas to simulate diverse scenarios and test concepts quickly before investing in large-scale human research
Integrate real human data into synthetic user behavior to make them more accurate, realistic, and aligned with actual user patterns
Apply synthetic users strategically knowing when they accelerate your process vs. when human participants are essential for quality

Propose AI research workflows tailored to your context, demonstrating ROI and addressing your own concerns about quality and rigor
Train others in AI research fundamentals by sharing frameworks for prompting, tool evaluation, and maintaining rigor with AI assistance
Position yourself strategically as the AI-confident practitioner who shapes research direction rather than being shaped by technology

Test tools alongside peers from diverse backgrounds (Meta, Microsoft, IKEA, Deloitte) and discuss what works in different contexts
Share real-world results through collaborative exercises where you compare AI outputs, troubleshoot challenges, and build best practices
Get invited to try the latest tools and keep abreast of new developments in AI research through ongoing access to emerging platforms

Learn directly from John

John Whalen, PhD

AI for UX Expert | Fortune 500 clientele | CEO, author & speaker

Key Clients

Who this course is for

Researchers seeking to deliver insights faster at scale using AI—while maintaining the quality and rigor that makes their work trustworthy.
PMs and research leaders balancing the need for rapid customer insights with concerns about maintaining quality, rigor, and team standards.
Designers seeking practical AI tools to understand users, test concepts, and make evidence-based design decisions with confidence and speed.

Prerequisites

Experience with customer research or user feedback
You've worked with customer insights in some capacity—whether you've conducted research yourself, collaborated with researchers on your team
Willingness to try new tools hands-on
This is a practical course with weekly exercises using AI platforms. You'll need time to experiment and apply what you learn.
No technical background required
We use tools and prompting techniques that don't require any coding knowledge. If you can write clear instructions, you're ready.

What's included

Live sessions

Learn directly from John Whalen, PhD in a real-time, interactive format.

Enterprise Tool Access

Get hands-on access to premium AI research platforms including Listen Labs, Coloop, Marvin, Vurvey, SyntheticUsers, and more—tools you can't access elsewhere.

Hands-On Projects with Real Research Scenarios

Test AI tools on actual research data, compare outputs across platforms, and build the practical skills you can apply immediately at work.

Guest Sessions with AI Tool Founders

Hear directly from the creators building these platforms about what's actually possible, roadmaps, and best practices beyond the marketing hype.

Comprehensive Tool Guides & Prompt Libraries

Access detailed step-by-step guides for every AI research method—from meta-prompting to AI-moderated interviews to synthetic users—plus ready-to-use prompt templates.

1:1 Session with John (30 Minutes)

Get personalized guidance on your specific needs—whether it's tool recommendations for your context, help training your team, career advice, or applying AI research to your unique challenges.

All Session Recordings

Can't make a live session? Access recordings to learn at your own pace and revisit content whenever you need a refresh—critical for busy leaders and global teams.

Community of peers

Connect with researchers, designers, and PMs from Meta, Microsoft, IKEA, Canva, Deloitte, and more who are navigating AI research together.

Lifetime access

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Maven Guarantee

This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.

Course syllabus

31 lessons • 3 projects

Week 1

Mar 3—Mar 8

Session 1. Introduction, Prompt Engineering + AI-Moderated Interviews

6 items

Week 2

Mar 9—Mar 15

Session 2. AI-Moderated Interviews + AI-Powered Analysis

8 items

Free lesson

Rapid Product Discovery with AI-Powered Interviews

Setup AI-Powered Interviews Fast

See how AI can create an interview plan starting just from your questions.

Gain Insights in Hours

Use AI interviews to test assumptions and gather insights in hours, not days.

Live Demo - Watch and Learn!

Watch a live AI interview and see how insights are instantly analyzed.

Schedule

Live sessions

2 hrs / week

Weekly 2-hour interactive sessions where you'll learn from John, demo AI research tools live, learn from platform founders, discuss your experience with peers, and get expert feedback on how to do research with AI. Designed for hands-on activities and discussion, not passive lectures.

Projects

1-2 hrs / week

Test AI tools on real research scenarios each week. You'll set up AI interviews, analyze data with platforms like Coloop and Marvin, evaluate tool outputs for quality, and create synthetic users. These aren't theoretical—you'll use the same enterprise platforms John deploys with Fortune 500 clients, with full guides and peer feedback.

Async content

1-2 hrs / week

Access detailed tool guides, prompt templates, and framework documents between sessions. Watch demos of AI research platforms, review evaluation criteria, and explore case studies from real consulting work. All resources are yours to keep—use them during the course and reference them whenever you're evaluating new tools or training your team.

Testimonials

"I could NEVER trust AI to synthesize user research or moderate interviews with customers." -Me, a month ago. And then I took this course. I learned that actually, AI assistants can do a pretty good job at synthesis if approached correctly. And sometimes, AI-moderated user interviews might even be a BETTER choice than human-moderated interviews."
Jenny Shirley
UX Researcher
"One of the biggest takeaways for me was being able to debunk the myth that researchers are on the verge of becoming obsolete. On the contrary, this course reaffirmed the critical thinking, curiosity, and human nuance that researchers bring to the table—skills AI can enhance but not replace."
Neha Scher-Shah
Senior UX Researcher at Humana
John's course was invaluable to learn cutting edge UX research skills that I was able to immediately apply in my day-to-day at work. Not only that, I was able to gain hands-on experience with the latest tools that help augment the work we do.
Ross Lordon
Senior Azure Cloud Native UX Researcher at Microsoft
This course is a perfect blend of expert knowledge and experience, community sharing and insights, and hands-on learning. I loved the balance between optimistic exploration and cautious analysis, as well as having the space to create unique perspectives through experimentation.
Gabriela Oliveira
Product Researcher at Recharge
John is thoughtful about the pros, cons, benefits & limitations of AI. You'll learn about the potential of AI across the research cycle without being forced to drink the kool-aid. The course is wonderfully paced and worth every penny.
Julie Francis
CX/UX Researcher & Strategist
UX/R! This course is totally worth your time! It was a structured way through a sea of solutions in addition to hands on experience and discussion. I've already capitalized on what I learned in this two-week course with the knowledgeable and famously friendly John Whalen, PhD!
Tracy Hayes
UX Research Leader, ex-Google, ex-IPSOS