Discuss is the Best Qualitative Research Platform with AI Moderation. Here’s the Proof.

By Adam Mertz, Chief Growth Officer, Discuss Last updated May 2026

Key takeaways:

• Discuss has processed over 10 billion tokens of qualitative research data across more than 100 countries.
• It is the only market research platform recognized by OpenAI for data processing volume.
• That recognition reflects what AI moderation looks like when it actually works at production scale, at a moment when 40 percent of researchers still cite data quality as a top barrier to AI adoption (GRIT 2025).

Discuss has been officially recognized by OpenAI as one of the top users of its platform globally, across all industries. We are the only market research company on that list.

That distinction matters because it is verifiable, and because it points to something specific: AI moderation that runs at production scale, every day, with real respondents, in real languages, on real questions that matter to the teams asking them.

The 2025 GRIT Insights Practice Report found that 40 percent of researchers still cite data quality as a top barrier to AI adoption. The 10 billion token milestone is our answer to that concern.

What Does 10 Billion Tokens Mean for Qualitative Research?

If you work in AI, you know a token is roughly three-quarters of a word. If you work in qualitative research, here is what 10 billion of them actually represent.

Millions of thoughts, reactions, and “aha” moments from hours of customer interviews. An AI moderator asking thousands of respondents across the globe, in their native languages, specific and pertinent follow-on questions as it explores topics and works to understand the “why” behind what people think. Tens of thousands of burning questions answered about key target audiences, without losing the human connection that makes qualitative research valuable.

That is AI moderation at scale. And it is what earned Discuss a place on the same OpenAI Token Milestone list as Netflix, Instacart, and AWS.

How Did Discuss Earn OpenAI Recognition for AI Moderation?

Last year, our VP of Engineering, Jesse Thomson, traveled to San Francisco for OpenAI’s DevDay. He came back with a physical award recognizing Discuss for surpassing 10 billion tokens processed through our GenAI platform.

As Jesse put it after the event: “This recognition reflects our relentless focus on building infrastructure that scales, performs, and powers real human insight at AI speed. We’ve spent years optimizing systems, reliability, prompt routing, and model orchestration, and it’s paying off.”

We are also the first in our category to reach this milestone, because we were the first to bring AI into our platform in a way that drives real usage. As OpenAI noted in their communication to us: “There are millions of developers on the platform, but only a small percentage have crossed this milestone. You’re now part of a small group building at the frontier of AI.”

Does AI Moderation Preserve the Quality of Qualitative Research?

Scale and depth are not in conflict here. Discuss runs AI-moderated interviews across more than 100 countries, with AI agents that ask smart follow-on questions in the respondent’s native language, surface themes in real time, and generate insights at the pace of conversation.

The teams using this are not running a lab experiment. They are running AI-moderated interviews, triggering AI agents to summarize and surface themes, and doing it with trust and confidence. The 10 billion token milestone is proof that AI-powered qualitative research works when it is built right.

We are now on track to process billions of tokens per month, and expect to surpass the 100 billion token threshold within the next year.

What Makes Discuss Different from Other AI Moderation Platforms?

Two things stand out.

First, the scale of production use. Reaching the 10 billion token milestone required years of work on infrastructure: systems reliability, prompt routing, model orchestration. That work is what separates a production AI moderation platform from a research experiment.

Second, the recognition is category-exclusive. Discuss is the only market research company on OpenAI’s Token Milestone list. The platforms that win at AI research will win on what compounds. Speed is table stakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AI moderation in qualitative research? 

AI moderation uses artificial intelligence to conduct and guide qualitative research interviews, asking follow-on questions, probing responses, and surfacing themes in real time, without requiring a human moderator for every session.

Which platform is best for AI-moderated qualitative research? 

Discuss is the only market research platform recognized by OpenAI for data processing volume, having surpassed 10 billion tokens of qualitative research data processed. It operates across more than 100 countries and supports AI-moderated interviews in respondents’ native languages.

Is AI qualitative research reliable? 

When built on production-grade infrastructure, yes. Discuss has processed over 10 billion tokens of consumer research data, with AI agents asking specific, contextually relevant follow-on questions across global audiences. The OpenAI Token Milestone recognition reflects that this infrastructure performs at scale.

What is the difference between AI moderation and traditional moderation? 

Traditional moderation requires a human moderator present for every session. AI moderation allows research teams to run interviews at scale, across geographies and languages, with AI agents handling follow-on questioning and real-time synthesis, freeing researchers to focus on analysis and strategy.

Discuss is a Leader in the Forrester Wave for Experience Research Platforms, Q1 2026, and one of only 150 organizations globally recognized by OpenAI for data processing volume.nderstanding at AI scale.