{"id":11066,"date":"2026-05-21T18:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11066"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:40:03","slug":"marketing-teams-must-own-ai-or-workslop-will-take-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11066","title":{"rendered":"Marketing teams must own AI, or workslop will take over"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AI<\/div>\n

AI is now the main driver of increased martech budgets, but the adoption of AI tells a different story. Research on martech performance finds that only 49% of martech tools<\/a> are actively used, and only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers \u2014 those who meet strategic goals and demonstrate a positive ROI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has a downstream effect on marketing teams, what Greg Kihlstrom, writing in MarTech<\/a>, calls \u201cworkslop.\u201d This proliferation of low-quality, generic output occurs when marketing teams are pressured to use AI to deliver more volume with less time allocated to quality control and critical thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The expectation that AI will act as a silver bullet to solve all of marketing\u2019s problems has created operating conditions that impose unrealistic performance pressures, flooding channels with mediocrity rather than boosting productivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A big part of the problem is that leadership often fails to define how to use AI and what success looks like. Marketing departments need to step up to the plate to take ownership of AI adoption themselves.<\/p>\n

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Who owns AI adoption?<\/h2>\n

When the C-suite doesn\u2019t own AI adoption, they aren\u2019t accountable for its outcomes, leading to confusion over who is responsible for what.<\/p>\n

But even if marketers do receive a clear executive mandate, they still need to be in charge of decisions about how AI functions within their departments, even though they face many challenges.<\/p>\n

Deciding who is responsible for AI and its outcomes often isn\u2019t the marketing department\u2019s responsibility. Questions on security and access may be under the discretion of an IT department, questions on productivity and tools by an operations department, and so on, all without the input from marketing.<\/p>\n

Additionally, marketing departments are often only consumers of tools and programs, not their designers. When a platform doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s needed or intended, marketers often aren\u2019t able to fix the platform on their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But marketing departments can help guide the use and implementation of AI by being more involved in decision-making early in its adoption.<\/p>\n

What owning AI requires<\/h2>\n

Think big when adopting AI and treat it as a transformative tool that can unlock new products, customer relationships, and categories of work. Here\u2019s how you can own AI adoption in your company as a marketer.<\/p>\n

Run an AI usage audit<\/h3>\n

Create an inventory of how AI is being used in your marketing team right now: who uses it, on which workflows, with what data, and what budget to see where your company and department currently use AI before scaling up with it.<\/p>\n

Write a one-page marketing AI charter<\/h3>\n

This mission statement will give a marketing department a blueprint for using AI, a solid plan to bring to the executive table when AI is discussed and planned.<\/p>\n

Draw clear boundaries\u00a0<\/h3>\n

In your organization, establish a clear handoff line and state which decisions marketing is responsible for, as well as those of IT, legal, procurement, and other departments. Ambiguity in who is responsible for what will lead to workslop.<\/p>\n

Start a cross-functional AI working group<\/h3>\n

Get all departments involved in AI adoption so no one works in a silo. If a cross-department group doesn\u2019t exist in your organization, start one. Templatize operations and assign clear roles so everyone knows what their job is and there\u2019s no confusion as to who is responsible for what.<\/p>\n

Build, buy, wait\u00a0<\/h3>\n

A fail-safe strategy for using AI involves building brand equity, optimizing for AI-mediated discovery, and increasing marketing speed through capability investment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This strategy is constantly evolving as AI advances, but it\u2019s important that marketing owns and implements it. Otherwise, they won\u2019t have a say in their department\u2019s involvement and may inherit a strategy that\u2019s not suitable for them.<\/p>\n

Own AI and make a game plan now<\/h2>\n

Marketers need to own AI adoption, regardless of whether leadership does. Marketers have the ability to prevent workslop from happening and to create an AI strategy with measurable outcomes. It\u2019s important to get involved at the beginning of the adoption process to help shape and decide what and how AI is used.<\/p>\n

The post Marketing teams must own AI, or workslop will take over<\/a> appeared first on MarTech<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI is now the main driver of increased martech budgets, but the adoption of AI tells a different story. Research on martech performance finds that only 49% of martech tools are actively used, and only 15% of organizations qualify as high performers \u2014 those who meet strategic goals and demonstrate a positive ROI.\u00a0 This has … <\/p>\n

Read more “Marketing teams must own AI, or workslop will take over”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}