The Marketing AI Institute recently released its annual State of Marketing AI report, which examines the awareness, understanding, and adoption of AI in marketing. It seems things are beginning to look better for marketing teams, but the Institute’s founder and CEO, Paul Roetzer, says we still have a long way to go. Surprised? Let’s dig into some of the findings and get more of Roetzer’s perspective.
AI adoption and understanding is growing
The survey found that over a third (36%) of respondents have infused AI into their daily workflow, over a quarter (26%) are experimenting, and 12% apparently can’t live without it.
An important caveat of this report is that the survey was conducted with the members of the Marketing AI Institute, which means the survey was completed by people who are actively thinking or working with AI today. Roetzer acknowledged in a webinar introducing the key findings in the report that these numbers are probably lower when you look across the industry as a whole, but the findings are still important to consider.
When asked at what stage of AI transformation they are at, nearly half (49%) said they are still understanding (ie learning how AI works and exploring use cases and technologies), 41% are piloting (ie running small pilots with narrow use cases), and 10% are scaling (ie wide-scale adoption that is leading to efficiencies and increased performance). Again, Roetzer said the scaling number is probably lower, depending on how you define scaling.
Another key finding is that most companies are using AI to drive efficiency, whether it’s reducing time on repetitive, data-driven tasks or getting actionable insights. These are starting points with AI. Roetzer said that by 2025, the leading companies will differentiate by finding ways to accelerate and apply innovation.
Things are moving slowly, but they are moving because marketers understand that AI is playing a significant role in marketing, whether it’s content development, personalization, analytics, or automation. However, just because individuals recognize the need to adapt doesn’t mean the path forward is clear and doesn’t mean their companies are in lockstep with them.
Companies need to get up to speed faster
When survey respondents were asked about barriers to AI adoption, over two-thirds (67%) cited a lack of education and training, 56% pointed to a lack of awareness and understanding, and 47% said no when asked if their company provided any education or training.
There are other issues, too. More than half didn’t have AI councils tasked with developing policies and practices, and only 19% had AI roadmaps covering the next year to two. Also, only 36% have AI ethics policies.
There is a lot of unofficial training out there, and it’s inconsistent. As a result, people are trying to learn a lot of disparate information about how to use AI and find themselves overwhelmed. And when they come back to the company and try to apply what they have learned, they can be met with resistance because it’s different from how the company has decided to use AI (even though there is no official training or policy).
Not having the right education and training or AI councils and roadmaps is probably driving some of the concerns that marketing jobs are at risk. In this study, 47% believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next three years. A lot of the job elimination views come from C-suite respondents, but they aren’t the only ones. Knowing that their executive team is looking at AI as a replacement for workers sends the wrong message to employees.
Roetzer said that companies should have conversations with their employees about AI’s impact on individual roles. He also thinks people are underestimating the degree to which AI will automate marketing tasks now and in the next three years. If you follow Roetzer on LinkedIn or subscribe to his podcast, you can see how fast things are changing.
My take
Underestimating the speed of change is not in the best interests of any company or person whose job is affected by AI. The report states that we are at a crossroads, noting that while people seem willing and able to adapt, companies are moving too slowly.
Smart marketers are making an effort to build their awareness and skills, and if their company doesn’t acknowledge that effort, they will go to companies that value them and have a plan or are trying to make a plan. While I don’t fully believe that people who know AI will replace those who don’t, it’s in everyone’s best interests to understand the impact AI can have on their jobs and the use cases where it can benefit their work.
At the same time, it’s hard not to feel something for those who want to learn and grow and need their company to make that happen. Not everyone has the time to work on their skills outside office hours to the extent that they fully learn how to leverage AI technology. Companies need to provide the resources and time for marketing teams to understand and test the AI use cases that will work for them, and this should be driven from the top.