The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is warning that widespread use of AI in marketing has now become so prevalent that it is outstripping professional skills.
According to a poll of over 1,000 European CMOs, close to half (47%) of marketers are already using AI regularly, despite the fact that only 4% are confident in their ability to professionally implement it.
The institute’s poll also revealed that a further 40% of respondents were currently at the planning stage of implementation, with only 12% yet to deploy AI or machine learning in their day-to-day working.
Whilst the adoption of AI may be progressing faster than marketers’ ability to develop the appropriate level of proficiency in the subject, it is set to continue to play a leading role for the foreseeable future, with 44% of respondents selecting it as a top three agenda item, ahead of digital marketing (40%) and customer experience management (38%).
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“AI has made phenomenal progress in the last 12 months, as have professional marketers across Europe who understand the profound impact this technology will have on their future success,” CIM CEO Chris Daly said.
“Our research reveals an impressive adoption rate, with nearly half actively piloting or using AI and an additional 40% delving into its potential applications. What is clear, however, is that the pace of progress is outstripping professional skills, exposing businesses to a greater degree of risk.”
As part of the study, European marketers revealed that their primary uses for AI were: content production (69%), conversational AI (35%) and automated analysis (14%).
However, due to the rapid adoption of the technology over the past two years, many marketers cited major challenges such as a limited understanding of appropriate AI software (57%), a lack of in-house expertise (39%) and insufficient data on which to train AI models (24%) as significant barriers to progress.
