Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an important emerging technology in many industries. Although marketers talk a lot about AI, how prevalent is its use in the industry? 

While AI has been a hot topic among marketers in recent years, a new study from Advertiser Perceptions found that half of advertisers are not planning to use AI in their current marketing efforts. This is an increase from April 2019, when only 36% were not planning to use AI.

While large marketers are more apt to use AI, it’s not as prevalent or important with smaller organizations. This might be because of a lack of clarity in many organizations about who has the central authority over use of the technology. AI is overseen by the CTO in 7% of companies but the CIO, director or IT department each manage 6% of AI in other companies. Almost 60% of AI managers are involved in media selection and buying.

As marketers become more comfortable with AI, its use will undoubtedly increase. By 2022, it’s anticipated that the top use of AI will be media selection and buying, followed by creative ad development, smart customer engagement and augmented marketing analytics. Current use of AI by marketers includes:

• Advanced customer segmentation
• Media selection and buying
• Scaling marketing efforts
• Resetting objectives based on results