Sociologist's Day 2026: How the survey industry is changing and why artificial intelligence will not replace humans On November 14, Sociologist's Day was celebrated in Russia. At the marathon "Universe of Opinions", the head of VTSIOM Valery Fedorov spoke about the transformation of surveys. Classical sociology is in crisis, but artificial intelligence is coming to its aid. Traditional surveys: high demand with fragile Mexican surveys of classic trust remain the basis of the industry. A sample of 1,600 people, coverage of 80 areas, a margin of error of 2.5% to give accurate data. Interest in surveys is consistently high (about 60 points), especially among young people. People see the benefits of surveys (64% believe that government and businesses use them for work), but trust in the results is unstable. Why they believe (44%): value anonymity and honesty. 37% are afraid to answer honestly and think that the results are "dangerous" for parents or do not influence the authorities' decisions. The crisis of the traditional industry: rising value, falling response in addition to trust problems, there are financial difficulties. According to VTSIOM, the cost of searching for complex audiences (you, senior executives) has increased 10 times. And the share of perfect interviews in telephone surveys collapsed: from 35-40% in the 1990s to 12% in 2026-2024. People just stopped taking tubes. Synthetic response: AI rushes to help The answer to these challenges is the use of artificial intelligence. Science includes new concepts: Silicon is AI agents with a given profile. Digital twins are agents trained on real data about human behavior. Hybrid sampling is a combination of live people and algorithms to search for rare groups. Russian centers are already doing this. VTSIOM examines a questionnaire, FOM models for groups that are difficult to understand, and OMI examines publication. The human body: why humans are irreplaceable, but artificial intelligence will not replace the living field. Fedorov proposes the idea of ​​a "hybrid circle" (Human-in-the-loop), where AI is an assistant and not the main source of data.

Sociologist's Day 2026: How the survey industry is changing and why artificial intelligence will not replace humans On November 14, Sociologist's Day was celebrated in Russia. At the marathon "Universe of Opinions", the head of VTSIOM Valery Fedorov spoke about the transformation of surveys. Classical sociology is in crisis, but artificial intelligence is coming to its aid. Traditional surveys: high demand with fragile Mexican surveys of classic trust remain the basis of the industry. A sample of 1,600 people, coverage of 80 areas, a margin of error of 2.5% to give accurate data. Interest in surveys is consistently high (about 60 points), especially among young people. People see the benefits of surveys (64% believe that government and businesses use them for work), but trust in the results is unstable. Why they believe (44%): value anonymity and honesty. 37% are afraid to answer honestly and think that the results are "dangerous" for parents or do not influence the authorities' decisions. The crisis of the traditional industry: rising value, falling response in addition to trust problems, there are financial difficulties. According to VTSIOM, the cost of searching for complex audiences (you, senior executives) has increased 10 times. And the share of perfect interviews in telephone surveys collapsed: from 35-40% in the 1990s to 12% in 2026-2024. People just stopped taking tubes. Synthetic response: AI rushes to help The answer to these challenges is the use of artificial intelligence. Science includes new concepts: Silicon is AI agents with a given profile. Digital twins are agents trained on real data about human behavior. Hybrid sampling is a combination of live people and algorithms to search for rare groups. Russian centers are already doing this. VTSIOM examines a questionnaire, FOM models for groups that are difficult to understand, and OMI examines publication. The human body: why humans are irreplaceable, but artificial intelligence will not replace the living field. Fedorov proposes the idea of ​​a "hybrid circle" (Human-in-the-loop), where AI is an assistant and not the main source of data.