65% of CMOs Say Advances in AI Will Dramatically Change Their Role in the Next Two Years

The survey was conducted online from August through October 2025 among 402 senior marketing leaders. In addition, a Gartner survey of 426 business leaders, conducted in September and October 2025, revealed 82% of leaders say their company’s identity will need to significantly change to keep pace with the impact of AI on markets.

“The CMO role is undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformation. CMOs must prioritize becoming future-forward marketing leaders,” said Sharon Cantor Ceurvorst, VP, Research, in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “AI, market disruption, and cross-functional demands are expanding the CMOs remit, but not their resources. To stay relevant, CMOs must stop prioritizing execution and instead lead through strategic insight.”

“CMOs face heightened responsibility for end-to-end customer experience and commercial outcomes, often without additional resources,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and the Chief of Research for the Gartner Marketing Practice. “This demands a renewed focus on building hybrid human-AI teams and cultivating future-ready leadership capabilities. Leaders should emphasize human reasoning, adaptability, and the ability to architect meaningful customer experiences, ensuring their teams are equipped to meet expanded executive expectations and drive business growth in an AI-driven landscape.

“Success in this new era requires CMOs to set clear strategic direction, adapt to AI-driven customer journeys, and focus on creating authentic, differentiated value. The CMO role is evolving from influencer to designer of business impact.”

Unlocking AI’s Full Business Value Remains Elusive

While AI is revolutionizing personalization, content creation, and data-driven insights, many organizations struggle to realize its full potential. A Gartner survey of 413 marketing technology leaders, conducted in June through August 2025, revealed only 5% of marketing leaders who are not piloting AI agents report significant gains on business outcomes. Furthermore, for those further along the AI journey, agent capabilities aren’t yet delivering the promised business performance.

“To address this, CMOs must move beyond basic AI adoption and instead reengineer strategies, processes, and talent models—building AI-powered organizations that seamlessly integrate human creativity with machine intelligence,” said McIntyre. “Marketing teams should proactively reimagine their brand positioning and experiences to stay relevant as leaders anticipate significant evolution in company identity.”

The Customer Attention Crisis Intensifies

GenAI is disrupting channels, while agentic buying promises to reshape purchase decision-making in ways that reduce human attention and engagement. Marketers must adopt a zero-based mentality for channel strategy, ensuring every touchpoint is intentional, relevant, and distinctive to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

“Marketers must understand and plan for dual customer journeys: those of GenAI tools and AI agents on the one hand, and those of humans evaluating their output on the other,” said Cantor Ceurvorst. “Human touchpoints will continue to become more scarce, so it matters to get each one right—creating an emotional connection to your brand that influences not just one decision, but many choices over time.”