Nearly one-fifth of surveyed marketing leaders had eliminated some functional roles in their organization due to artificial intelligence as of last spring, and the trend could pick up speed, according to new Gartner findings.
The researcher predicts that AI will enable a majority of high-performing marketing teams to axe traditional entry-level jobs by 2030, but cautioned that those efficiencies should not be taken as an excuse for cutting off fresh talent from the corporate pipeline. Decision-makers like CMOs instead must reassess how they foster the next generation of marketers in light of these technology shifts, Gartner said.
“CMOs should give junior marketers exposure to higher-value work earlier, building the judgment, strategic thinking and AI orchestration skills they will need to become future marketing leaders,” Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone, vice president analyst at Gartner’s Marketing practice, said in a statement.
Along with stats showing 18% of marketers have already nixed some positions, Gartner found 16% have developed new roles while nearly one-third have reworked existing functions due to AI. The report surveyed 1,303 senior marketing leaders between January and April of this year.
As more low-level work is automated, CMOs should consider tasking new hires with tackling areas such as evaluating AI outputs, coming up with insights and tying recommendations to concrete outcomes. Candidates must be evaluated on a different criteria that focuses on how they approach AI-powered ways of working, including their use of critical thinking and personal judgement, per Gartner. Onboarding should try to place junior employees in higher-value responsibilities earlier in their career, with coaching and mentorship used to speed along development.
Business leaders have spent the past few years pushing employees to learn the ropes of AI quickly, but more are expressing concern that an overreliance on AI tools is leading to a dumbing down of the workforce. More than 60% of C-suite leaders believe the erosion of human skills will pose a significant threat within the next three to five years, separate research from BCG found.
A combination of economic pressures and the rise of AI have led to a bleak job market for recent college graduates. Marketing organizations are often among the first to see cuts in a downturn, and Gartner has previously noted that CMO budgets have stayed relatively flat amid mounting pressure to adapt to AI transformation.
