Week of May 25, 2026
AI maturity over time
Six months ago, 1 in 6 marketers were advanced AI users. Now it’s closer to 1 in 4.
61%
The share of Advanced-stage AI users grew 61% in just six months, while the early-stage pool shrank at the same rate.
Source: ActiveCampaign AI Maturity Quiz
“Six months ago, a lot of marketers tried AI a couple of times and didn't see that it was all that. Now, the models are improving at an incredible pace, and people are finding ways to include AI in their workflows to save time and cut out the busy work.”
Benyamin Elias, ActiveCampaign
Analysis
What the numbers actually mean.
The distribution is shifting toward Advanced, and the early-stage pool is shrinking.
Before November 2025, just 17% of quiz respondents qualified as Advanced-stage AI users. In the last three months, that share climbed to 27%, or 61% relative growth. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, generative AI work adoption is now higher than PCs were at the same point in their adoption history; meaning we're watching the curve move from early majority to mainstream in real time.
The window to be an early mover is closing.
When competitors are moving from Intermediate to Advanced, catching up from Beginner isn't a one-quarter project. The compounding nature of AI maturity means late adopters face an exponentially steeper climb.
There’s a trending direction (are you moving with it?)
The data will get sharper as the sample grows, but the direction is already clear. Marketers who use AI more become more advanced in their use; and because of this, they operate at a fundamentally different level than those who don’t. Every month spent evaluating is a month someone else is compounding.
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