New studies point to gaps stemming from marketing role and company size. And very few marketers want AI “in the driver’s seat” just yet.
The level of your AI adoption may have something to do with your salary and role, and maybe the size of your company. Two recent studies point to gaps in AI adoption existing within organizations, based on role and the size of the organization.
Role gap. More marketing executives say they’re adopting AI tools than their entry-level colleagues.
Sixty-one percent of marketing executives said they’re using AI tools weekly in their work, while 42% of entry-level marketers say the same, according to a joint study by Lightricks and the American Marketing Association (AMA).
Also, 48% of executives rate AI as important to their role, while 34% of entry-level marketers agree with this rating.
At this early stage in AI adoption, the vast majority of marketers at all levels are reluctant to hand the reins over to AI-powered processes. But within this question, there is also a gap by role. Twenty-four percent of marketers say they want AI “in the driver’s seat,” while only 5% of entry-level marketers say this.
Furthermore, 55% percent of executives trust AI tools to enhance creativity. Only 33% of entry-level marketers agree.
Company size. A modest though notable edge goes to large businesses adopting AI.
Seventy-five percent of marketers at large businesses reported receiving AI training, while 65% of marketers at medium-sized businesses said the same, according to a recent study by Adobe.
The best intentions. AI adoption rose from 73% in 2023 to 90% in 2024, according to the AMA study.
Another recent study found 95% of marketers plan to increase AI deployment next year.
This study, by Invoca, showed a similar divergence according to company size. Sixty percent of marketers at big companies said they were AI experts, compared to 40% at companies with under 1,000 employees.
Why we care. It’s interesting to see AI adoption reinforce two presumptions about organizations. First, big companies have more resources to experiment with technology and gain a competitive edge. The second is that leaders in an organization lead. It will be very interesting to see if these gaps close in the coming year. As adoption becomes more entrenched — as marketers’ 2025 intentions suggest — they’re likely to.
More about the Adobe study can be found here. And the Lightricks/AMA study is here.
The post AI adoption gap found between executives and entry-level marketers appeared first on MarTech.
About the author
Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.
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