For some marketers, the rapid rise of excitement and potential around AI has been accompanied by trepidation. Whether they’re worried about the masked nature of AI or that their investment may not pan out, many find themselves concerned with common misconceptions. We’re here to address those myths head-on to help you see the benefits AI can deliver for your brand. 

Myth 1: “AI will replace me.” Marketing employees should be concerned about AI making their jobs obsolete. -- Brian McCann, Senior Analyst, Technology Strategy

You’re not going to be replaced by AI soon: currently, AI agents still need guidance and human oversight to provide business value. You may, however, be outclassed by coworkers and competitors who use AI regularly to augment their workload. If you haven’t at least tried using AI tools, now’s a good time to start researching your options.

As marketers, we should embrace these tools, as they allow us to remove ourselves from the drudgery. For example, over the past decade, most marketers have been overwhelmed with data and have lacked the time to synthesize and take action. Now, you can deploy AI agents to remove you from this drudgery and bring you actionable data closer to real time. In turn, you can put your big human brain to work with creative and strategic tasks, which is exactly what it was designed to do.

Myth 2: “Our company isn’t moving fast enough.” Everyone is using AI today, and your organization is behind.  -- Carly Longo, Senior Director, Technology Strategy

Just because everyone’s excited about AI doesn’t mean they’re already using it more or better than your brand. Deciding how best to hop on the AI bandwagon or accelerate into more advanced AI usage across your organization has an important foundational hack. 

There are many tricks to the trade, but the first is figuring out what capabilities and needs you have. Gather up all your existing marketing processes, tools, and pains, and identify areas where AI could plug and play. Start small so you can test and learn – think predictive analytics, content, chatbots, and more. Build the power within your teams to get excited and generate some adoption steam. Evaluate tools, establish KPIs, and govern your way to ethical AI. 

For more information on getting your organization ready for AI, read our posts about preparing your data for AI and AI use case ideation.

Myth 3: “AI will definitely improve performance.” Using AI guarantees revenue gains and successfully reaching new customers. -- Nico Veltri, Director, Data & Decisioning Platforms 

In the pre-Gen AI days, marketers heavily relied on third-party cookies and predictive attribution. Firms paid hefty sums to marketing research giants to create complex persona matrices and analytics insights, only to be told to invest more in Facebook ads. This was the early age of person-based marketing, before behavioral retargeting bubbled over.

But now, as third-party cookies continue to fade, data clean rooms roll in. We find our clients investing even more with cutting edge AI-generated options for data wrangling and predictive modeling with tools that execute their predictions

But without the right prework, marketers may find themselves haunted by empty promises made to the organization about quick wins they’d see from AI. In reality, AI investments may not show immediate monetary gains – and depending on your use cases, it may not translate directly to customer acquisition or revenue growth. That’s why a solid KPI framework and a clear vision of what AI needs to achieve for your organization, and on what timeline, are musts to prevent stakeholder and leader disappointment.

Myth 4: “AI-generated content is too machine-like and not human enough.” Using AI for content relevancy leads to cold, impersonal marketing & consumer connection. – Carolyn Barrs, Manager, Technology Strategy

When you think about AI-generated content, you may imagine content that's colder than ice, leaving audiences feeling like they're chatting with a robot in a tuxedo. 

But here’s the twist—using AI for content relevancy doesn’t make your marketing impersonal. Instead, it’s more like a matchmaking service for brands and customers. AI can dive into data, find out what your audience loves, and serve it up with precision, like a DJ spinning the perfect track at a party. Sure, it’s tech powered, but it’s all about making real connections by delivering what customers actually want, making it a valuable marketing tool.

Myth 5: “Everything on the web now is created by machines.” Was this blog written by AI? – Courtney Trudeau, SVP, Technology Strategy    

You think AI was this creative? Well, you aren’t wrong in thinking it, because the reality is, with the right training and prompt, AI can create very custom content. But this blog was in fact written by real humans. 

AI may conjure up feelings of uncertainty or hesitation, but we’re here to tell you that it’s not something to be afraid of. With the right use cases, AI can give us superpowers and tackle the next best things to come.