What makes market intelligence valuable when everyone has AI?

Today, tasks that used to take hours, such as scanning markets, pulling together insights, and drafting category narratives, can be done in seconds. Ask a question, get what seems like a coherent answer, apply it, and move on. 

This shift has raised an issue that we’re hearing more and more: 

If anyone can generate market insight on demand with AI, what is market intelligence actually worth? 

It’s a fair question. But it misses something important, because what’s changing isn’t the need for market intelligence, but the standard that it must meet. Procurement doesn’t operate in a low-stakes environment, and the decisions it makes sit at the intersection of cost, risk, resilience, and strategy. They’re more visible, more complex, and far less forgiving if they go wrong. 

But, at the same time, we’ve never had more information at our fingertips. More data, more tools, more AI-generated answers – but not necessarily more clarity. 

This is where tension is building, because when everything is fast and accessible, it becomes very easy to base decisions on what sounds right rather than what can be defended. 

There’s a line we keep coming back to: 

Some insight is good enough to inform. Not all is good enough to decide. 

AI is incredibly effective at helping teams get oriented. It accelerates understanding, reduces friction, and gets you to a starting point quickly. But when the stakes increase, such as when you’re shaping strategy, challenging suppliers, or committing to a direction with tens – or even hundreds – of millions of dollars on the line, the bar changes. You don’t just need an answer, you need a data-led strategy you can justify and stand behind. Something that is grounded, explainable, and built for the reality you’re operating in, rather than just a well-structured summary of what’s already out there. 

We’ll be exploring this shift in more detail with the release of our latest whitepaper: “Market Intelligence in the Age of AI: Why decision-grade intelligence matters when anyone can ask an LLM,” which will be published on Tuesday, 24^th March. 

It unpacks: 

• Where AI genuinely adds value in procurement decision-making 

• Where generic tools fall short for high-stakes decisions 

• What “decision-grade” intelligence looks like in practice 

• How to assess whether your own market intelligence is fit for purpose 

If you’re thinking about how AI is changing the role of market intelligence in your organization, this is a conversation worth following. Because in a world where anyone can generate answers, the real advantage comes from knowing which ones you can trust.