industry thoughts from Clarteza

When working on different innovation projects, we are constantly seeking insights into human behavior—particularly the motivations behind it. Understanding what drives people is key to unlocking meaningful innovation. Through AI, specifically Natural Language Processing (NLP), we can dig deeper into the stories and emotions that shape behavior, revealing powerful human truths often hidden beneath the surface.

We’ve been using AI tools for years to uncover insights for innovation, particularly when it comes to analyzing open text. In fact, we’ve developed a process to help us capture elusive insights. We insist on this approach because it helps us uncover answers to questions we hadn’t even thought to ask. It allows us to see relationships between words, identify the most resonant ways to speak about a product in different languages, and understand what people value most—and why. It’s through these insights that we can truly bring out the humanity behind the data.

One of our favorite examples is a study we conducted on physical activity, specifically about what dance means to people. We asked broad, open-ended questions like: How did you start dancing? Why do you continue? What does dance mean to you? The responses were incredible.

Across the board, dance brought people tremendous joy. But here’s where it gets interesting: for younger individuals, it was all about the challenge—the excitement of pushing their limits. But for those over 35, dance took on a different role. It became a form of healing. Who would have expected that? But when we dug deeper, it made sense. People were going through life transitions. Many were picking up something they’d wanted to try for decades. Others found solace in dance when their relationships ended, or when they realized they needed to move more as their health began to deteriorate.

This is where AI, and specifically NLP, shines. By asking the right questions, we brought people’s humanity to the surface. Without the power of AI, we might have missed the nuances in their responses. We could have easily categorized dance as a joyful exercise and moved on. But with over 400 people pouring their hearts into those open-ended questions, we owed it to them—and to ourselves—to analyze every response in detail. What we uncovered didn’t just change the way we understood the data; it transformed how we helped position the service, ultimately changing the trajectory of the brand and impacting the lives of countless people who connected with it on a much deeper level.

So, here’s my point: there is humanity in AI. It’s just about knowing how to use it to reveal authentic insights. When done right, AI helps us see the richness of human experience and understand the complex emotions and needs behind the words. It’s not just about technology—it’s about uncovering what makes us human, one insight at a time.