Is AI for Research Replacing Analysts? (The Answer is No)

The most common question we get from research directors isn't about cost or security—it's about people. Will AI for research make our junior analysts obsolete?

The short answer is no. But it is fundamentally changing what their day-to-day work looks like. The era of the "Ctrl+F Analyst"—the person whose primary value is knowing where files are stored—is indeed ending. But the era of the AI-Augmented Researcher is just beginning.

From Search to Synthesis

Currently, a junior analyst spends up to 40% of their week just finding and skimming documents to see if they are relevant. This is a massive waste of human potential. Professional researchers have PhDs and deep domain expertise; they shouldn't be spending their time on basic retrieval.

By using AI for policy research, the "finding" part of the job happens in seconds. This allows the human to spend 100% of their time on the "thinking" part:

• Judging the quality of the sources.
• Spotting political nuances that an AI might miss.
• Synthesizing data into strategic recommendations.
• Communicating complex ideas to stakeholders.

The New Skillset: Prompt Engineering for Research

In 2026, the most valuable skill for a researcher isn't knowing the archive; it's knowing how to interogate it. Learning how to use semantic search for research tools like Answerable is becoming a core competency, much like Excel was in the 90s.

AI isn't taking the researcher's job—it's finally allowing them to do the job they were hired for. Learn how to upskill your team today.