Gartner Survey Reveals CMO “AI Blind Spot” as 65% Expect Role Disruption, Yet Only 32% Say Significant Skill Changes Are Needed
“CMOs are not ignoring AI; most are expecting the role to change,” said Lizzy Foo Kune, Distinguished VP Analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice. “But the data points to a disconnect between anticipating disruption and recognizing the personal transformation required to lead it. CMOs must build the literacy to prioritize high-impact use cases, validate outputs and manage risk. Otherwise, AI becomes something happening around them, not something they lead.”
“CMOs can’t treat AI as something the team ‘uses’ while leadership stays on the sidelines.” — Lizzy Foo Kune, Distinguished VP Analyst
Many CMOs first encounter AI through operational use cases, such as content generation, analytics and workflow automation. This can reinforce an “efficiency tool” mindset and push AI ownership to teams, agencies, or IT. This approach fails to elevate AI into a leadership capability tied to growth strategy, decision-making and experimentation.
“CMOs can’t treat AI as something the team ‘uses’ while leadership stays on the sidelines,” said Foo Kune. “The leaders who will thrive will prioritize a small set of high-impact use cases tied to measurable outcomes, build fluency in model limitations, and institutionalize output validation. They should also hold agencies accountable for governance and demonstrated value, and convene a C-suite community of practice to accelerate experimentation and alignment to enterprise priorities.”
