Marketing teams must own AI or workslop will take over | MarTech

AI is driving increased martech budgets, but adoption results remain weak. Research on martech performance shows only 49% of martech tools are actively used, and only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers by meeting strategic goals and demonstrating positive ROI. Marketing teams experience downstream effects, including “workslop,” where low-quality, generic output proliferates under pressure to produce more with less time for quality control and critical thinking. The belief that AI is a silver bullet creates unrealistic performance expectations that flood channels with mediocrity instead of improving productivity. Leadership often fails to define how to use AI and what success looks like, so marketing must take ownership of AI adoption decisions. Ownership is complicated when security, access, productivity, and tool decisions sit with IT or operations, while marketing may only consume tools rather than design them.

"AI is now the main driver of increased martech budgets, but the adoption of AI tells a different story. Research on martech performance finds that only 49% of martech tools are actively used, and only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers - those who meet strategic goals and demonstrate a positive ROI."

"This has a downstream effect on marketing teams, what Greg Kihlstrom, writing in MarTech, calls "workslop." This proliferation of low-quality, generic output occurs when marketing teams are pressured to use AI to deliver more volume with less time allocated to quality control and critical thinking."

"The expectation that AI will act as a silver bullet to solve all of marketing's problems has created operating conditions that impose unrealistic performance pressures, flooding channels with mediocrity rather than boosting productivity. A big part of the problem is that leadership often fails to define how to use AI and what success looks like."

"Who owns AI adoption? When the C-suite doesn't own AI adoption, they aren't accountable for its outcomes, leading to confusion over who is responsible for what. But even if marketers do receive a clear executive mandate, they still need to be in charge of decisions about how AI functions within their departments, even though they face many challenges."

Read at MarTech