CS Seminar (Data Centric): Ashlee Edwards (Reddit)

Building Product Strategy with Research and AI

Product strategy hinges on our ability to build an understanding of weaknesses in our product,
and we build this with triangulation of three types of data: qualitative, behavioral, and historical. I
propose the inclusion of a fourth element: artificial intelligence (AI). AI is more ingrained in the
public consciousness than ever before. With the rise of tools like ChatGPT, people are turning to
AI to address both mundane and complex problems. But it is not a totally foolproof solution. In
this talk I unpack how we can look at qualitative, behavioral, and historical data combined with AI
to identify key opportunity areas for product innovation.

Bio: Ashlee Edwards is Head of Consumer Product Research at Reddit. Prior to Reddit, Ashlee led a
team of product researchers in the monetization and product inclusion space at Snapchat. In
previous roles, Ashlee worked as a product researcher at Netflix and Instagram leading research
efforts for growth, accessibility, localization, and creative innovation.. She’s written extensively
about user experience strategy, including how to share research creatively and measure user
engagement, and her research has been highlighted in publications including Bloomberg News.