Week of July 27, 2026
Marketing is the #1 job businesses give AI
82% of businesses use AI for marketing — more than double the next-closest function.
82%
Across 1,000 businesses, 82% said they use AI for marketing. So AI in marketing isn't an experiment anymore; it's the default, while other departments are still lagging.
Source: ActiveCampaign, 13 Hours Back Each Week
“Today's marketers not only need strategic and creative skills to compete, but to upskill on the technical side. AI is not only a nice-to-have option for performing a marketer's job, but has become a companion in navigating changes in customer behavior and the demands of their day-to-day output.”
Jorge Fuentes Zapata, Fuentes Zapata LLC
Analysis
What the numbers actually mean.
Marketing has already made AI part of the job.
Across 1,000 businesses, 82% put AI to work in marketing, more than double the rate of the next function. The 2025 AI Trends for Marketers report found the same saturation from the inside, with 91% of marketing leaders saying their teams already use AI to do the work. The experimentation phase in marketing is over, and assumed use is the new default.
Marketing runs well ahead of every other function.
Marketing’s lead is not an accident of budget, it reflects work that is high volume, creative, and measured constantly, which gives AI the most to do and the fastest read on whether it worked. Marketing became the proving ground because it had the most repeatable work to hand over.
Being first sets the pace for the org.
When marketing is the most AI-saturated function, it becomes the internal benchmark for what AI can deliver. Other departments measure themselves against what marketing has already automated, so leading now is about depth of use, not access.
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