A fascinating shift is about to change how we build products

In the 1960s and 70s, “𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡” was mostly theoretical - academics like Robert Rosen built models to predict how complex systems might behave. This evolved during the Cold War era (think RAND Corporation and scenario planning) when governments needed to anticipate global threats.

For decades, it remained a specialized discipline requiring extensive resources and expertise - interesting, but out of reach for most product teams.

The game-changer? AI has completely democratized 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.
The most innovative companies aren't waiting for customer complaints or feedback surveys anymore. They're deploying AI systems that continuously scan usage patterns, support tickets, social signals, and market conditions to identify emerging pain points before they become widespread problems.

This isn't just faster feedback - it's a fundamentally different approach that compresses the traditional product development cycle by eliminating the "wait for problems to emerge" phase entirely.

The companies that master this approach will build seemingly prescient products that solve problems customers didn't even know they had. It's product-market fit at the speed of AI.

What anticipatory research systems are you experimenting with?
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