CMOs: AI Won’t Replace You. But It May Outpace You.

AI won’t replace you. But it will force you to change your marketing strategy.

Nearly 90% of B2B marketers say they’re using or piloting AI in their workflows. Most, however, expect adoption to take a year or more. That lag is exactly where the trouble begins.

Because AI isn’t waiting for marketers to catch up — and neither are your competitors. Here is the research that proves it.

The fear is misplaced: AI isn’t coming for your job, but it will dramatically change it

Let’s dispense with the obvious: the robots aren’t taking over the CMO’s office.

In reality, B2B marketing leaders are among the most enthusiastic adopters of AI. According to ON24’s State of AI in B2B Marketing report, 87% of marketers are already experimenting with or deploying AI tools. Research from other firms backs this up — as an example, BCG found that 70% of B2B leaders had already run two AI pilots.

But the problem isn’t adoption. It’s velocity.

While most CMOs are testing the waters, few are equipped to scale these tools quickly. According to Deloitte, 70% of enterprise leaders anticipate needing a year or more to fully operationalize AI. That timeline may have sounded reasonable a year ago. But as ChatGPT users now send more than 2 billion prompts every day, AI appears to have already arrived.

AI is accelerating — and that’s the real threat

Generative AI is not a future-state technology. It’s now a competitive differentiator — and the early evidence is compelling.

Analysis by Microsoft and IDC claims that for every $1 companies spend on generative AI, they’re seeing $3.70 in return. Meanwhile, customers of ON24 have already seen remarkable results: NRC Health cut content production time by 95%, while Flexential tripled campaign reach with AI-generated content.

The opportunity is clear. So is the challenge. As competitors adopt AI at pace, B2B marketing leaders cannot allow their teams to fall behind.

PwC’s Pulse Survey found that while most CMOs plan to reshape their business models using AI, 41% cite skills shortages as a primary obstacle. Talent — not tools — is the limiting factor. And as AI capabilities grow more sophisticated, CMOs risk lagging behind the competition if they overlook the human element. They must provide access to AI tools, encourage their teams to experiment with them and learn, and give them permission to drive results through their use.

It’s not about tech. It’s about your leadership mindset

AI won’t decide your marketing strategy for you. You will have to steer the thinking behind that. But AI will certainly expose the gaps in your ability to adapt.

As such, the role of the CMO is shifting and shifting quickly — from marketing strategy owner to transformation leader. But while AI might be cutting-edge innovation, CMOs do not need to be technical geniuses. When MIT Sloan Management Review identified 10 research on leadership traits for the AI era, the common themes were based on softer skills. Leaders demonstrate attributes like curiosity, resilience, and the ability to lead by example. These are not technical competencies. They’re cultural ones.

Success with AI depends on building systems where people and machines complement each other. That means redesigning workflows, investing in team upskilling, and rethinking what constitutes “strategic marketing” thinking in the AI world. AI can generate content, analyze behavior, and optimize campaigns. But it still requires human judgment to direct it, refine it, and apply it in a meaningful context.

The CMOs that will drive performance will be those that take an integrated approach to strengthening people, technology, and processes. Those who don’t risk missing out.

Three steps to outpace the curve and hit the AI curve ball

So what should marketing leaders actually do? Here are three steps you can take.

1. Assess where you are today

Start by understanding where you are — in both tool adoption and in terms of team readiness. Map your AI pressing wants and needs, current capabilities, and identify the gaps in data fluency, process integration, and decision-making autonomy.

2. Prioritize quick wins

You don’t need a moonshot to prove value. Start with initiatives that demonstrate clear ROI: AI-generated nurture sequences, lead scoring models, or personalized content streams. At ON24, clients using these approaches have driven faster campaign cycles and measurable gains in pipeline and revenue generation.

3. Fix the first-party data foundation

AI is only as good as the data it runs on. Without clean, structured, and accessible first-party prospect and customer data, even the most advanced models will deliver subpar, artificially unintelligent results. Getting this right is essential for B2B marketers, where the significant potential behind target segmentation and hyper-personalization powered by first-party data will make a profound difference.

These aren’t futuristic ambitions. They are the foundation for the results you need today.

Strategy isn’t static. Neither is the CMO role.

The idea that AI will replace marketing leadership is a red herring. But the real challenge is more subtle — and certainly urgent.

If you’re leading the marketing function the same way you did two years ago, you’re already behind. AI is changing how value is created, how decisions are informed, and how teams are structured.

CMOs need to move just as fast. Not because technology demands it, but because CEOs and shareholders expect it.

The future of marketing leadership won’t only be about knowing the answers. It will be about asking the right questions — and knowing how to use AI to find better ones.