Stop Synthetic

Let's Stop Synthetic Respondents!

StatGenius stands firm against AI respondent systems. Synthetic respondents might look like real data points, but they’re not — they’re just approximated patterns stitched together by a model. It’s smoke and mirrors. No one, not even the world’s top AI labs, actually understands how these large language models arrive at their answers

That’s why claims from vendors are misleading at best. If a vendor rep tells you they “know how their model works,” they’re lying. These systems don’t provide real respondents, reliable reasoning, or reproducible results. They produce polished guesses. And when the stakes are high — in business strategy, scientific research, or government policy — polished guesses are worthless.

AI Responses are Dangerous

Using synthetic responses is dangerously misleading. On the surface, the data looks real, but underneath it’s just patterns stitched together by a model with no true understanding. This creates false confidence, flawed conclusions, and decisions based on guesses rather than evidence. Organizations relying on synthetic respondents risk wasting resources, misinterpreting trends, and making critical errors — all because the “data” isn’t real and the models producing it are essentially a black box.