The trend: Marketers have widely embraced AI tools, but are mostly using them for content production rather than to improve behind-the-scenes processes.

• Fewer than 45% of advertising professionals are using AI to streamline workflows, according to a March report from Basis. Instead, top applications include idea generation (86%), research (72%), and content creation (61%).
• Similarly, the most common daily uses of AI among marketers are text generation (52%), refinement (51%), and creative output such as image and video production (49% each), per a January report from Morning Consult and Canva. These are high-visibility tasks, but they don’t necessarily reduce inefficiencies or unlock long-term value.

Untapped potential: Despite AI’s transformative promise, its most scalable applications—like automation, workflow optimization, and media planning—are still widely underused.

• Only 19.9% of ad pros are using AI to inform media buying decisions, per Basis.
• Just 24.6% are leveraging it for dynamic ad generation or personalization—areas ripe for measurable returns.
• Fewer than one-third are applying it to data-driven tasks like SEO optimization (31%) or content repurposing (32%).

This usage pattern suggests that many marketers are treating AI like a new creative tool rather than an operational enabler.

Barriers to adoption: According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the barriers to more robust AI use are technical and organizational.

• Nearly half of ad professionals say they’re developing clear use-case guidelines and roadmaps over time (both 49%).
• 40% are working to define success metrics tailored specifically to AI.
• Training and human oversight were cited by 36% and 33%, respectively, underscoring lingering concerns around quality and control.

This signals that AI implementation remains fragmented, with teams still working out internal guardrails, ownership, and evaluation metrics.

Spending outpaces integration: Gartner projects global GenAI spending will soar from $365 billion in 2024 to nearly $644 billion in 2025—yet much of that investment is flowing into hardware like devices and servers, which make up the bulk of spending. Software and services, the categories most likely to benefit marketers directly, remain comparatively small.

This mismatch highlights the disconnect between AI’s promise and its practical application in marketing; there’s growing investment, but slow adoption where it counts most.