The NPD Game Is Won or Lost in the First Five Plays: How AI Can Help in Product Innovation

The fuzzy front end (FFE) of new product development (NPD) is critical to project success, as activities, such as idea generation, concept development, and market analysis, often determine final outcomes. However, the FFE is prone to errors, leading to costly failures later in development. AI has the potential to transform the FFE by improving efficiency, reducing uncertainty, and enhancing decision-making. Despite this, AI adoption in the FFE remains lowonly 22 in 2024despite the availability of low-cost tools. While AI in later NPD stages faces higher barriers due to technical complexity and higher costs, the front end presents a low-risk, high-reward entry point for AI integration. This article explores AI's role in FFE activities in NPD. AI creates new product ideas and then screens them, prioritizing the best ideas. Examples of AI doing ideation and screening ideas are given and reveal remarkable results. AI can also conduct market and competitive analysesagain examples are providedand assist in market research and VoC work, reducing costs and time. Numerous commercially available AI tools that help in the FFE are also outlined. Given AI's low cost for FFE tasks and the exceptional results, the real question is: What is stopping us