How to research a person

The best ways to research someone before you meet them.

You have a meeting and you want to know who you are talking to. Your options range from a general chatbot to personality tools to a purpose-built brief. Here is what each is good at, and where each lets you down.

Updated June 2026

To research a person before a meeting you have a few options. A general AI like ChatGPT or Perplexity is fast but can be confidently wrong on people who are not famous. Crystal and Humantic predict how someone likely communicates. LinkedIn shows their stated history. Brief reads the live web and gives you a sourced brief on who they are, what changed recently, and how to open. For accuracy on one specific person, a purpose-built, sourced tool beats a general chatbot.

  1. 1.Brief

    Pre-call research

    Type a name and Brief reads the live web for a short, sourced brief on the person: who they are, what changed recently, and a couple of ways to open. Built for the prep before a conversation, not for sending or storing data. First brief free.

  2. 2.Crystal

    How they communicate

    Predicts a person’s personality and communication style, mostly inferred from public signals (DISC). Useful for tone; it tells you how to talk to someone, not the current facts about them.

  3. 3.Humantic AI

    Buyer personality for sales

    Personality and buyer insights drawn from public data, aimed at sales. Like Crystal, it is about communication style rather than what is happening with the person right now.

  4. 4.LinkedIn

    Their stated history

    The person’s own account of their roles, posts and activity. The first stop, but it is what they chose to publish, and you still have to read and synthesize it.

  5. 5.Perplexity

    A quick answer with citations

    Searches the web and cites as it answers, so it is better than a plain chatbot for facts. It is a general answer engine, so you still vet the specifics on a particular person.

  6. 6.ChatGPT

    Open-ended questions

    Great for reasoning and drafting. On a real, less-famous person it can sound certain and be wrong, so check anything you plan to repeat in the room.

How we picked

Ranked for one job: walking into a meeting knowing who you are talking to, accurately. Tools that ground their claims in current sources rank above ones that infer or guess.

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Frequently asked

What is the best way to research someone before a meeting?

Start with their LinkedIn for the basics, then use Brief for a sourced read on who they are, what changed recently, and a couple of ways to open. If you only ask a general chatbot, verify anything specific, because it can be confidently wrong on people who are not famous.

Can I just use ChatGPT to research a person?

For a well-known person, maybe. For most people you meet, a general model will fill gaps confidently and can be out of date. Brief reads the live web for that person and ties each claim to a source, so you can trust what you bring in.

Is it OK to research someone before a meeting?

Researching someone’s public, professional footprint before a meeting is normal and expected. Brief only uses public information and shows its sources, so you can see exactly where each point came from.

How long should researching someone before a meeting take?

A useful read should take a couple of minutes, not half an hour of open tabs. Skim their LinkedIn for the basics, then let a sourced tool like Brief assemble who they are, what changed recently, and how to open — so you spend the time using the context, not gathering it.

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Know who you’re meeting.

Type a name, get a sourced brief in a few seconds. First one’s free.

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