AI is transforming how organizations understand consumers, conduct research, and turn insights into action. But as the tools become more powerful, understanding the people behind the data is becoming even more important. In this episode of Cultural Fluency Makers, David Wellisch sits down with Kajoli Tankha, Senior Director and Head of Consumer and Reputation Insights at Microsoft, to explore the intersection of cultural intelligence, consumer insights, and artificial intelligence. Kajoli explains why cultural intelligence helps organizations uncover the assumptions and biases they may otherwise miss, and why the best insights are the ones that can be translated into real business action. She also shares what technology companies often misunderstand about consumers: people aren't looking for the newest or most impressive technology. They're looking for tools that solve real problems and make their lives easier. The conversation explores how Microsoft is incorporating AI into the research process, the potential of synthetic audiences and digital twins, and why human judgment remains essential even as AI makes knowledge more accessible. Kajoli also breaks down the skills researchers and marketers will need to thrive in an AI-powered future, from business and stakeholder knowledge to synthesis, storytelling, fearlessness, and curiosity. Takeaways: Cultural intelligence makes the implicit explicit. Because we live inside culture, many of our assumptions and biases can be difficult to recognize. Cultural intelligence helps organizations uncover those assumptions, correct biases, and better understand what consumers want, resist, and value as the world around them changes.A great insight only matters if the business can act on it. The challenge with cultural intelligence isn't always uncovering the big idea. It's translating that idea into something stakeholders understand, buy into, and can use to make better business decisions. Bringing the right stakeholders into the process early can help bridge that gap.Cultural resonance starts with authenticity. Brands don't need to chase every cultural moment or try to become something they're not. Instead, they need to understand who they are and find authentic ways to remain relevant as culture changes. For Microsoft, Kajoli explains, that means focusing on empowering others rather than trying to make the brand itself look “cool.”Consumers don't care about technology just because it's new. Tech companies can easily project their own excitement about innovation onto their customers. But consumers aren't waking up wondering which AI model to use. They're trying to solve everyday problems, save time, and make their lives easier. The real opportunity is understanding the problem the customer is trying to solve and building around that need.AI's biggest opportunity in research goes beyond efficiency. Kajoli sees AI as a way to make researchers more effective, not simply faster. By making an organization's collective knowledge more accessible, AI can remove some of the barriers that once depended on who you knew, what information you had access to, or whether someone had time to share it with you.Researchers will need more than methodological expertise to thrive alongside AI. Business knowledge, stakeholder understanding, methodology, synthesis, and storytelling all become increasingly important when AI can handle more of the traditional groundwork. Researchers still need to understand the “question behind the question,” connect information to the broader business context, and communicate insights in a way that bridges the customer and the business.Fearlessness and curiosity are essential in an AI-driven future. There isn't a perfect roadmap for how AI will transform research, which means researchers need to be willing to experiment rather than rely on the methods and assumptions that have worked in the past. As Kajoli puts it, “Your defaults have got you this way, but they're not gonna get you to the future.” Quote of the Show: “Your defaults have got you this way, but they’re not gonna get you to the future.” Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kajoli-tankha/ Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us
