The future of Research is human: Rally’s AI philosophy

At Rally, our philosophy on artificial intelligence starts from a simple belief: research is, and always will be, about people.

The research process unfolds in four main steps: plan, recruit, conduct, and analyze. AI has already begun transforming the latter stages. Analysis that once took hours can now be completed in minutes. Teams are experimenting with AI-moderated interviews to scale conversations.

These are useful advances, but they don’t solve the hardest part: recruitment.

‍“Who you recruit is directly correlated with the quality of insights you’re going to get. Relevant participants lead to meaningful insights, which drive better business decisions and outcomes." – Oren Friedman, CEO & Co-founder at Rally

Finding and engaging the right people is the foundation of meaningful research. That work cannot be left entirely to algorithms. It requires context, judgment, and empathy, which is why research teams are so vital.

Building Rally in the age of AI

Every decision starts with listening to customers and understanding what blocks them from running the research programs they envision. Sometimes AI is the right tool to remove those barriers. Other times, better workflows, integrations, or automation are the answer. By focusing on real needs rather than chasing trends, we ensure that what we build makes research smoother, safer, and more impactful.

‍“There’s no way you can outsource the whole recruitment, research, and analysis process to an AI tool if it doesn’t have a foundation of governance, security, and your organizational context underneath it. ReOps leaders bring a unique blend of operational expertise and empathy for research, and they’re the ones who build and safeguard that foundation.” – Oren Friedman, CEO & Co-founder at Rally

We aim to design AI features not as shiny add-ons, but as practical tools that reduce friction for ReOps.

‍“The reality is, qualitative research is about people. The nuance, the body language, the pauses – all of that carries meaning that no AI can fully capture (yet). Our role is to design AI features that reduce the noise around research, not replace the heart of it.” – Dave Chen, Head of Design at Rally

A philosophy for the future

Imagine a world where one operations manager can enable an entire company to run research at scale – all while ensuring governance, protecting participants, and maintaining privacy and compliance.

AI makes that world possible, but ReOps provides the structure and oversight that keeps it grounded. ReOps leaders understand that every research interaction is also a customer experience – one that can either build trust or weaken it. By keeping ReOps at the center, we ensure research remains both effective and human.

‍“Without a good database and structure, there’s no way to get results with a level of determinism. ReOps plays the role of making the source data clear and contextual, so AI has something trustworthy to work with.”  – Dave Chen, Head of Design at Rally

Our philosophy is simple: research operations enables AI – not the other way around.

AI amplifies the work of humans, but people set the rules, create the context, and carry the responsibility (and accountability) for insights that guide companies forward.

‍“ReOps is the strategic foundation for every AI-enabled workflow. Our goal at Rally is to make ReOps a supercharged role. AI is a tool in our toolkit to support that mission.” – Alec Robins, CTO & Co-founder at Rally

The future of research is about elevating operations professionals and empowering them as the heroes who make research possible at scale. That’s the story we believe in, and that’s the story Rally is building every day.

Rally exists to amplify your value, make your work easier, and ensure that research stays deeply human while scaling to meet the needs of modern organizations.

Call to action

Empowerment is at the heart of Rally’s philosophy. Too often, researchers have had tools handed down to them and been left to react. We want to challenge that dynamic: researchers and ReOps leaders shouldn’t accept whatever software lands in front of them – they should ask questions, share stories, and expect more.

The future of research tools isn’t defined by AI trends alone, but by the people who use them every day. Rally’s role is to channel those voices into product decisions that matter.

Our goal is for researchers and ReOps to feel not just supported, but in control, and able to focus on the strategic, creative, and human parts of their work, while AI gets rid of the noise.