From eliminating mundane tasks to the creation of full-fledged campaigns, artificial intelligence has become a central focus for marketers as departments feel the effects of budget constraints. Nearly 90% of senior industry professionals use AI daily, according to a survey by GWI. However, the technology isn’t without its drawbacks, with 80% of respondents saying they frequently encounter inaccurate or misleading AI findings.
“Broadly, everyone is using AI, everyone feels very confident and good about it, but everyone also has very strong concerns and suspicions, and remarkably high numbers are seeing negative impact or less than good outputs. But we're carrying on using it regardless,” said Jason Mander, chief insight officer at GWI.
“Artifical Intelligence: The AI Trust Gap,” includes responses from 1,883 senior insights, agency and marketing professionals based in the U.K., U.S. and Singapore collected in the third quarter of 2026. All respondents worked at companies with over 500 employees or $26.5 million (20 million pounds) in annual turnover in areas such as media, agencies, gaming, retail and others.
The AI problem
While AI is known to produce incorrect information, only 36% of survey respondents say they verify AI insights “most of the time.” Not only can AI insights be incorrect, they are often out-of-date, with 72% agreeing that the technology can make something seem more relevant than it actually is. Overconfidence has consequences: 63% of respondents say they have accidentally used insights they later realized were out of date and 68% think their colleagues are doing the same thing without noticing.
“We've got somewhat lost in the buzz and the excitement, and haven't been as rigorous as we otherwise would be,” said Mander. “I think part of that is a fear of not keeping up. This adoption has been so rapid and so public and so well known that there's a pressure on professionals that if you're not using AI, you feel like you're behind the curve and you might be losing out to competitors.”
AI models can over rely on stereotypes when it comes to audience profiles and 76% industry leaders think the tech can reinforce outdated assumptions. Nearly 70% of respondents have seen the technology fail to accurately reflect their organization’s target audience in profiles. Despite this, 81% said they feel confident in using AI for audience profiles and segmentation, and 84% believe the technology can accurately explain human behavior, per the report.
The technology is also seen as largely unable to decipher consumers' motivations, with 71% of respondents saying AI can tell you “what” but not “why.” Eighty percent said that fully understanding motivations still requires human involvement and 75% believe AI will never replace direct human research. However, over 90% of organizations are building or already using AI tools that depend on external data.
The AI cost
While AI has been seen as a potential solution to budgetary constraints, not thoroughly checking its outputs can have real effects on business functioning. Over half of senior decision-makers have made a significant business decision based on AI insights that turned out to be incorrect or misleading, per the report.
Feeling the negative impacts of inaccurate AI insights is common, with 82% of marketing leaders feeling at least one adverse outcome, the most common being internal rework (38%), followed by delayed decision making (36%) and customer complaints (34%).
Putting too much trust in AI carries its own set of risks and 21% of survey respondents say they have seen weaker campaign performance due to mistakes made by the technology. Other observed adverse outcomes include financial loss (27%) and reputational damage (26%).
“I think we've got a little bit lost in all of the benefits because AI…allows you to become so much more productive, save so much time, increase all of your efficiencies. You perhaps haven't scrutinized some of the downsides,” said Mander. “But it also suggests that, generally speaking, companies haven't put the type of rigorous frameworks in place that you would expect with a new type of technology.”
