What it is
Marketing AI Institute, part of SmarterX, whose paid offer is AI training. Fifth annual survey.
Fielded February to April 2025 through the institute’s newsletter, podcast and events, with 74% of respondents in the US and a skew to small firms and marketing agencies; 63% were director level or above. Respondents place themselves on a five-stage individual scale from curiosity to transformation and a three-stage team scale of understanding, piloting and scaling.
Its headline results are about readiness rather than results. Lack of education and training was the top barrier for the fifth year, at 62%. 68% said their company provides no AI training. Ownership is scattered: the CEO at 35%, the CMO at 28%, and “no one owns it” at 17%. Only 25% have a marketing AI roadmap, and those that do are about twice as likely to also have training, policies and an AI council.
What marketing teams should take from it
- The training gap it reports is a real finding and also the publisher’s product, so read the 62% with that in mind.
- The roadmap result is the useful one: the teams with a written plan are the ones that also have the training and the policies.
- Chapter 4’s question is the one this survey does not answer, whether roles actually changed or only the course catalogue.
- Leaders and staff disagree on the barrier: 49% of CEOs and founders cite training against 62% overall.
Where to start
Run its four-part check on your own function. A roadmap, training, a generative AI policy and a council. Use the “twice as likely” finding to argue for the roadmap first.
Then count how many people in your function have a changed job description and how many only have a course login. The first number is the one finding 04.1 measures.
Keep in mind
A self-selected, AI-educated audience recruited through the publisher’s channels, skewed to very small firms. Its figures are a view from the engaged end of the market.
Where the report uses it
Read during the study design; not cited in the report or the perspectives.