Rapid AI Research for PMs: Decision-Ready Customer Insights in Hours - not Weeks

New
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4 - 5 Weeks

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Cohort-based Course

Research can take too long. Master AI tools to get decision-ready insights fast—and defend your roadmap with speed, clarity, and confidence.

CLASS PARTICIPANTS FROM

Meta
Microsoft
Huge
Canva
Pinterest

Course overview

Go from product question to decision-ready insight in 24 hours – AI + verified

You’re expected to back big decisions with evidence ... fast.

But research takes weeks, and your sprint won’t wait.

Without insight, your roadmap is exposed.

Without time, you’re flying blind.

You need answers you can trust – at the speed product demands.

This course solves that.



Rapid AI Research for PMs


Shrink research from weeks to hours. Defend your roadmap with confidence.

In this 4-week, hands-on course, you’ll master a new way to answer critical product questions – fast, credibly, and without needing a dedicated research team.

You'll combine purpose-built AI research tools and flexible prompting skills so you can operate in any environment—even if your company blocks new software.

By the end, you’ll go from hunch → tested insight → evidence-backed decision in under 24 hours.



🚀 What You’ll Actually Learn to Do


This course mirrors the real flow of product discovery:


🔎 1. Start with a strategic product question

You’ll define a real decision you need to make, and turn it into a focused research plan.

→ What assumptions must be true for this to succeed?


🛠 2. Use AI to build and launch a research study—fast

You’ll learn how to use tools like Wondering and ListenLabs to generate interview guides, auto-schedule AI-moderated interviews, and recruit users overnight.

→ No meetings, no waiting on UX.

If your team can’t approve those tools?

No problem—you’ll also master prompt-based workflows to simulate user feedback, summarize forums, and build studies using ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.


🎥 3. Test concepts and capture rich feedback at scale

You’ll gather qualitative insights – whether from real users or synthetic ones – and learn how to generate summaries, transcripts, and video highlight reels you can trust.


🧠 4. Synthesize across sources and surface the real patterns

You’ll use tools like Marvin and Coloop – or custom prompts – to analyze interview transcripts, support logs, app store reviews, or survey data.

→ What themes are emerging? What’s surprising? What can I act on?


🧾 5. Produce a 1-page, executive-ready recommendation

For your capstone, you’ll bring it all together in a defensible, evidence-backed Go / No-Go brief. It’s the kind of document you’ll reuse in roadmap reviews, pitch decks, or strategy memos showing not just what you think, but why.



🧠 What You’ll Walk Away With


✅ AI research workflows that slot into your sprint—not fight it

✅ Evidence you can use in planning, roadmap defenses, and executive decks

✅ Confidence to defend decisions—and challenge assumptions—with data

✅ A prompt library for discovery, validation, and synthesis

✅ A real-world toolkit that works with or without enterprise AI tools

✅ Time back every week—so you can spend less time wrangling feedback and more time leading



🔍 Why This Course Is Worth It


Because you already know the cost of skipping research:

🚩 Missed needs

🚩 Misplaced bets

🚩 Confident presentations with shaky backing


This course gives you the workflows, tools, and framing to become the PM who always has customer evidence in hand—without needing to slow down.

It’s not just about speed.

It’s about strategy that sticks, and a reputation for decisions that hold up under scrutiny.



🧰 What Makes This Course Unique


🎙 Tool + founder access – Get guided trials of real platforms (ListenLabs, Coloop, Marvin) and hear directly from the people building them—so you understand not just what they do, but why.

⚙️ Prompting-first mindset – Learn AI workflows that work even without tools. Prompt your way to insight using general-purpose LLMs, safely and flexibly—no install required.

🧪 Practice with your real product decisions – You won’t learn in the abstract. Each week, you’ll apply what you learn to a strategic decision you're facing right now.

👥 Hands-on, collaborative format – Each session blends expert demos, peer breakout groups, live critiques, and take-home sprints. This is not a lecture series—it’s a working lab.

📎 Repeatable, shareable assets – Leave with a complete research toolkit: interview templates, prompt libraries, decision memos, and synthesis workflows you can plug into your team immediately.



🗓 Course Format


Live Workshops: Four 2-hour sessions, offered twice every Thursday (1–3pm or 7–9pm ET)

Homework Sprints: 1–2 hours/week to apply each workflow to your product

Office Hours: Weekly Q&A for deeper dives, troubleshooting, and feedback

On-Demand Resources: Walkthroughs, videos, prompt libraries, and templates for reuse



🧭 By the End of This Course

You’ll know how to turn product questions into tested answers—in hours, not weeks.

You’ll have the evidence to defend your roadmap.

You’ll become the PM who shows up with insights and results—not excuses.

Who is this course for

01

Time-pressed PMs who need fresh user evidence to ship features—without waiting on a research team.

02

PMs eager to fold AI-powered discovery loops and concept tests into their workflow in weeks, not quarters.

03

Senior product leaders seeking confident, user-centric roadmap calls via rapid synthetic-user & qual-at-scale studies.

Master a fast, flexible research system—so you can test ideas, synthesize feedback, and defend your roadmap with credible evidence.

Ask Better Questions. Get Insight in Hours.

Start with a strategic question—like “Will customers use this?” or “Is this worth building?”—and turn it into an AI-powered study in minutes. You’ll learn how to scope, prompt, and launch AI-moderated research that delivers real evidence by morning.

AI Discovery Sprints That Fit in a Sprint

Use tools like ListenLabs or Wondering to generate interview guides, recruit users, and auto-run conversations overnight. Themes are clustered by AI, transcripts are searchable, and video highlights are exportable—ready for standups, pitch decks, or planning docs.

Continuous Feedback Without the Chaos

Connect tools like NEXT, Sprig, or raw data to AI prompts that tag, group, and summarize incoming feedback. You’ll build a continuous loop that flags real changes in sentiment or behavior—so you never miss the moment to pivot or double down.

Fast Concept Tests. Clear Go / Iterate / Kill Calls.

Test new ideas with AI surveys, concept validations, and short-form interviews. Capture screen recordings, sentiment signals, and usage reactions—then let AI tools cluster results and generate summary reports that cut through ambiguity with clarity.

Synthetic Users for Edge Cases & Idea Stretching

Generate credible synthetic personas trained on customer data to simulate interviews, test assumptions, and explore edge cases. Then triangulate with real feedback for high-confidence decisions. Learn to ask “impossible questions” safely and early.

Synthesize Across Sources—Not Just Summarize One

Combine interview transcripts, app reviews, support tickets, and market intel into a single insight story. You’ll use tools like Marvin and Coloop—or structured prompts—to find themes, contradictions, and alignment. Great PMs don’t collect—they synthesize.

Evidence-Backed, 1-Page Strategic Recommendations

Your capstone: A Go/No-Go brief that is a polished, insight-backed recommendation with linked quotes, videos, and a clear recommendation. This format becomes a reusable asset in roadmap reviews, strategic pitches, and prioritization meetings—where proof matters most.

What’s included

John Whalen

Live sessions

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

Lifetime access

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

Community of peers

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Real-World AI Tool Access

Get guided access to ListenLabs, Marvin, Coloop, and more—no guesswork, no sales decks, just practical experience.

Field-Tested AI Research Guides

Includes step-by-step guides for sprints, synthesis, concept tests, and prompt workflows—built for real PM use.

Reusable Prompt Libraries & Templates

Copy-paste prompts and prebuilt frameworks for interviews, analysis, and strategic memos—ready on day one.

Live Expert Workshops (2x Weekly)

Join interactive, small-group sessions with demos, breakouts, and live feedback—at a time that fits your schedule.

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

8 live sessions • 24 lessons • 3 projects

Week 1

Aug 21—Aug 24

    Session 1 – The New Research Stack: Speed, Scale & Strategy

    • Aug

      21

      Rapid AI Research for PMs - Class 1

      Thu 8/215:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)
    • Aug

      21

      Rapid AI Research for PMs - Class 1 (repeat)

      Thu 8/2111:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)
    8 more items • Free preview

Week 2

Aug 25—Aug 31

    Session 2: From Strategic Question to Research Study in Minutes

    • Aug

      28

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 2

      Thu 8/285:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)
    • Aug

      28

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 2 (repeat)

      Thu 8/2811:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)
    6 more items

Week 3

Sep 1—Sep 7

Week 4

Sep 8—Sep 14

    Session 3: AI-Powered Synthesis & Building Your Case

    • Sep

      11

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 3

      Thu 9/115:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)
    • Sep

      11

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 3 (repeat)

      Thu 9/1111:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)
    8 more items

Week 5

Sep 15—Sep 18

    Session 4: The Influential PM – Integrating AI & Owning the Insight Loop

    • Sep

      18

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 4

      Thu 9/185:00 PM—7:00 PM (UTC)
    • Sep

      18

      AI-Powered Customer Research for PMs - Class 4 (Repeat)

      Thu 9/1811:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)
    5 more items

Post-course

    5. Post-Course Strategic Action Plan

    0 items

Bonus

    6. Bonus Materials: Guidebooks, Frameworks, Report & Tool List

    0 items

What alumni of "AI for Customer Research" say about mastering AI-powered research tools to move faster and make smarter decisions

        This course lets me focus on a new topic without needing extensive resources. It includes AI research tools, engaging discussions, and practical homework applicable to research. John shares insights from his successful consulting business, making this course especially valuable.
Chris

Chris

Group Creative Director, Deloitte
        John is a very good instructor who knows how to organize content, make it digestible and focus the class time around value add discussion and testing (vs. regurgitating class reading).
Abigail

Abigail

Principal Product Director, Service Titan
        This course was exactly what I needed to make sense of how AI can actually support research in a meaningful way. It was practical, hands-on, and full of real-world applications I can start using right away. John is an incredibly knowledgeable instructor who brings clarity and depth to a fast-moving, often overwhelming topic. Highly recommend to any
Len

Len

Senior Researcher, Huge
        This was a very useful, practical class taught in a thoughtful way. I've been doing user research for 14 years and was intimidated by the array of new tools and knowing what to try in this AI landscape. I really appreciated John's expert user research knowledge, as well as his generous approach to sharing tools and knowledge.
Jenny

Jenny

Lead, Bay Bridge UX
        After being on parental leave, I felt I had missed out on all the AI developments in UX research best practices…. We tried out injecting AI techniques throughout a research project, and it was especially useful to have discussion sessions with other course members.
Olga Hörding

Olga Hörding

Strategic UX Leader (ex‑Spotify)
        John Whalen, PhD's AI Skills for Research course was very helpful for getting my mind around the current state of AI tools and techniques for UX Research. … I recommend this course to anyone trying to navigate the user research world and the changes that genAI brings.
Suzanne Hillman, M.S.

Suzanne Hillman, M.S.

UX Researcher & Designer
        Highly Recommend! He and his team have spent hours and hours comparing different AI‑powered research tools to support the end‑to‑end research process. He shares what he has learned and gives you hands‑on activities to try several of them yourselves.
John Gusiff

John Gusiff

Chief Experience Officer
        The two‑week [four-session] course was a valuable sampler on using AI end‑to‑end across research projects, and it helped me further reframe my perspective on AI—from seeing it as a potential competitor to embracing it as a powerful collaborator.
Becky White

Becky White

Head of Research Design, Canva
        A fantastic opportunity to stay ahead in the evolving research landscape! I highly recommend it for ResOps professionals looking to leverage AI tools to drive impactful insights at scale. John Whalen, PhD Thanks for the opportunity to embrace AI for research.
Nivi Singh‑Frenger

Nivi Singh‑Frenger

Principal UX Researcher, Citizens Bank
        Want to learn how to apply AI methods for yourself? Check out John Whalen, PhD's course AI Skills for Research: Create an AI‑Powered Insights System. This excellent course is where I learned all about these new methods for myself!
 Heather Patrick

 Heather Patrick

Senior UX Researcher, American Chemical Society

Meet your instructor

John Whalen

John Whalen

I lead Insights & Innovation at Brilliant Experience, where I help global brands uncover the psychology behind customer behavior—and turn that understanding into successful, user-aligned products.


With a PhD in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins, I bring 20+ years of experience combining academic rigor with hands-on product strategy. I've advised teams at Google, PayPal, Capital One, and the U.S. government, and I’m the author of Design for How People Think (O’Reilly).


Though I was initially skeptical about AI, my team and I ran a series of “AI vs. Humans” benchmark studies to understand where AI helps—and where it falls short. That work convinced me: AI is not replacing human researchers, but it is radically transforming how fast and how often we can run great research.


Today, I use AI tools daily to design, run, and analyze scaled customer studies—often in hours, not weeks. I regularly interview AI research tool founders on my podcast and YouTube channel, and have tested dozens of tools so you don’t have to.


This course distills that experience into a practical system: how Product Managers, UXRs, and cross-functional teams can confidently use AI to move faster, reduce risk, and make better product decisions—without needing a dedicated research team.

Clients

Google
Capital One
Pinterest
GSK
Mars Wrigley

Career highlights

  • PhD in Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

  • Founder & CEO, Brilliant Experience (est. 2011)

  • Led insights projects for Google, PayPal, Capital One, and top startups

  • Created Brilliant’s AI-Accelerated Insights Workflow for faster, defensible decisions

  • Author of Design for How People Think (O’Reilly, 2019)

  • Top 100 Maven Instructor across UX and AI research courses

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Join an upcoming cohort

Rapid AI Research for PMs: Decision-Ready Customer Insights in Hours - not Weeks

August 2025

$995

Dates

Aug 21—Sep 19, 2025

Payment Deadline

Aug 22, 2025

October 2025

$995

Dates

Oct 2—24, 2025

Payment Deadline

Oct 2, 2025
Get reimbursed

Course schedule

4 hours per week

  • Thursdays

    1-3 pm EST or 7-9 pm EST (your choice)

    Interactive workshop: Learn new concepts and get set up to conduct hands-on training with AI-powered research tools.


    Workshops are being run identically in the afternoon and evening so that you can pick what works best for you!

  • Weekly projects

    2 hours per week

    Test and master AI-powered tools for Product Discovery, Continuous Discovery and Concept Testing. Determine which tools are right for you.

  • Office hours

    2 hours per week

    Optional time to meet with the session host and get 1:1 advice and support.

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

Stay in the loop

Sign up to be the first to know about course updates.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Rapid AI Research for PMs: Decision-Ready Customer Insights in Hours - not Weeks

August 2025

$995

Dates

Aug 21—Sep 19, 2025

Payment Deadline

Aug 22, 2025

October 2025

$995

Dates

Oct 2—24, 2025

Payment Deadline

Oct 2, 2025
Get reimbursed

$995

4 - 5 Weeks