The Challenge
Quality inconsistency was the breaking point. The Design Researcher's outputs varied dramatically depending on workload, time of day, and personal bandwidth. For a function as critical as research, the team needed deterministic, repeatable execution — something a human workforce structurally cannot provide.
"A design team deployed GPT-4o to autonomously handle research planning, participant recruitment, insight synthesis, eliminating the need for a dedicated lead Design Researcher."
Interactive ROI Model
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Live ModelIncludes salary, benefits, equity, and taxes.
Includes SaaS fees, tokens, and maintenance.
The Solution
They chose GPT-4o for its superior performance on design-specific benchmarks. The agent was deployed with a tool-use framework that gives it access to internal databases, APIs, and document stores — effectively replicating the Design Researcher's entire digital workspace.
Productivity Analysis
40hr week, minus PTO, holidays
24/7/365 · No downtime
An AI agent delivers 6,880 additional operational hours per year compared to a human employee — equivalent to hiring 5 additional FTEs.
Key Results
Results exceeded projections. The 35.5x ROI captured only the direct cost savings. Factoring in the elimination of recruiting costs ($25k), onboarding time (3 months), benefits ($71k), and management overhead, the true multiple approaches 49.7x.
Why This Works
No FICA, FUTA, or state UI taxes.
Eliminate stock grants and vesting liabilities.
No 3-6 month ramp-up period.
Consistent quality with no fatigue.
No health insurance or 401k match.
Scale agents instantly.