Generative AI Takes Off with Marketers

Generative AI in marketing has seen widespread adoption, fostered high confidence among users, yet still raises lingering concerns. Generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) has become a powerful tool in the modern marketer’s toolkit, with an overwhelming majority embracing these technologies to improve productivity and creative outputs. In collaboration with Lightricks, the American Marketing Association conducted a survey in September 2024 that revealed nearly 90% of marketers have used gen AI tools at work. 

With over 1,000 professional marketers surveyed, the study found that 71% of respondents use gen AI weekly or more, and nearly 20% utilize it daily. These findings echo a similar recent Wharton study of gen AI use among business leaders that found the number of weekly users jumped from 37% in 2023 to 73% in 2024. Generative AI is quickly becoming indispensable in the business and marketing worlds. 

Marketers leveraging gen AI report significant benefits in productivity and creativity, which seems to be the driving force of adoption rates. According to the survey, 85% of marketers who use AI believe that it has slightly or significantly increased their productivity. About half of respondents said they saved time and that gen AI improved the quality and quantity of their creative content. 

While a portion of respondents were skeptical of the benefits of AI, the vast majority are enthusiastic about the advantages AI is bringing to their careers. 

Marketers are using AI for a variety of tasks, ranging from content creation to SEO Optimization, reshaping how they approach these essential functions. According to the survey, the top applications of AI include content creation and writing, where AI assists with writing blog posts, scripts, and articles, allowing marketers to quickly generate ideas and drafts. About one in four marketers use gen AI for brainstorming and ideation, such as providing creative prompts, generating new campaign angles, and enhancing the planning process of campaigns. When it comes to design, AI tools streamline the process of creating visuals, from graphics to videos, allowing marketers to produce designs at a fraction of the cost and time. 

The tools marketers are using are very diverse, reflecting the wide variety of tasks where AI can assist. Chatbots like ChatGPT are the most popular tool for content generation with a 62% of marketers using them at work. Close behind are AI-powered tools like Grammarly (58%) and tools with embedded AI functionality, like Microsoft Co-Pilot or Canva (52%). Many marketers (45%) are also using specialized image and video generators, like Midjourney or Lightricks’ LTX Studio, a gen AI driven storytelling platform that streamlines and supports the visual creative process.

Despite the widespread adoption of AI in marketing, there are still several significant concerns that are preventing marketers from fully embracing these tools. The top three concerns marketers express are quality, ethical issues, and the threat to human creativity. Quality and accuracy seems to be the most pressing concern on marketers’ minds. While AI can produce content quickly there are concerns that the output lacks nuance, emotional resonance, or context. However, concerns over quality and accuracy may fade as AI models evolve and become more sophisticated. 

Marketers are also increasingly aware of the ethical dilemmas that come with gen AI, particularly with bias and copyright infringement. AI systems generate answers from training data meaning it can perpetuate bias. There’s also a growing concern over copyright issues, as AI can generate content that closely mirrors existing work, raising legal questions. AI regulation is still in its early stages and in flux, but there is still a great deal of uncertainty about how these ethical issues will be addressed in the future. 

Surprisingly, only about one-third of marketers expressed fear that AI would significantly reduce human creativity, a lower percentage than one might expect in the creative industry. While AI is certainly a valuable tool for generating ideas and automating tasks, many marketers still emphasize the need for human-driven creativity at the core of their work. Nearly 50% of marketers stated that the ideal balance of AI is mostly human driven with AI assistance. While these hesitations continue to shape marketers’ perceptions of AI, they also highlight key areas where the technology must evolve. 

Generative AI is here to stay and marketers are leading the change in adoption. As AI tools continue to evolve and become more integral in workflow, professionals will need to adapt and engage with these technologies to stay competitive. While concerns surrounding quality, ethics, and creativity remain, the undeniable benefits of increased productivity and improved creative output make AI an essential tool in today’s landscape. 

To foster greater confidence in AI, many marketers believe they need more time to experiment with the tools, greater human control over the creative process, and better access to educational resources on AI. The marketers who will truly excel are the ones who not only embrace innovation but also commit to continuous learning, to ensure they strike the right balance between human creativity and AI-powered efficiency. 

About the American Marketing Association (AMA)

As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, we aim to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. The AMA is home to five premier scholarly journals including: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Interactive Marketing. Our industry-leading training events and conferences define future forward practices, while our professional development and PCM® professional certification advance knowledge. With 70 chapters and a presence on 350 college campuses across North America, the AMA fosters a vibrant community of marketers. The association’s philanthropic arm, the AMA’s Foundation, is inspiring a more diverse industry and ensuring marketing research impacts public good. 

AMA views marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. You can learn more about AMA’s learning programs and certifications, conferences and events, and scholarly journals at AMA.org.

 

About Lightricks

Lightricks, an AI-first company, is revolutionizing how visual content is created. With a mission to bridge the gap between imagination and creation, Lightricks is dedicated to bringing cutting-edge technology to the creative and business spaces.

Their AI photo and video generation models, which power their apps and platforms including Facetune, Photoleap, Videoleap, and LTX Studio, allow creators and brands to leverage the latest research breakthroughs, offering endless control over their creative potential. Their influencer marketing platform, Popular Pays, provides creators the ability to monetize their work and offers brands opportunities to scale their content through tailored creator partnerships.

Founded in 2013, Lightricks is backed by prominent investors including Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Insight Partners, Viola Ventures, ClalTech, Greycroft, Hanaco Venture Capital, Altshuler Shaham Investment Holdings, Harel-Hertz Investment, Qumra Capital House, Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings, Shavit Capital, and Stonebridge Partners who share our enduring commitment to driving the future of content creation.