CMO “AI Blind Spot” as 65% Expect Role Disruption, Yet Only 32% Say Significant Skill Changes Are Needed

Marketing Leaders Face a Widening AI Literacy Gap as AI Shifts From Productivity Tool to Growth Capability

Sixty-five percent of CMOs say advances in AI will dramatically change the role of the CMO in the next two years, yet only 32% say significant changes are needed to the CMO profile and skill set, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.

The survey was conducted from August through October 2025 among 402 senior marketing leaders in North America and Europe. As AI becomes increasingly central to enterprise growth and competitive advantage, many leaders are not updating their own skills at the same pace as the role is evolving. Gartner predicts that by 2027, a lack of AI literacy will rank among the top three reasons CMOs are replaced at large enterprises, elevating AI literacy into a board-level leadership expectation.

“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

AI Is Exposing a Leadership Fluency Gap

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.”