Gartner: AI Literacy Gap Could Topple CMOs by 2027

- The Gartner survey, conducted from August to October 2025 with 402 senior marketing leaders, found that while 65% of CMOs expect AI to dramatically change their role, only 32% believe significant personal skill updates are necessary. - This disconnect is often rooted in CMOs viewing AI through the narrow lens of an "efficiency tool" for operational tasks like content generation or workflow automation, rather than as a core component of growth strategy and decision-making. - The report highlights a critical erosion of trust, with only 15% of CEOs believing their current marketing leaders are sufficiently AI-savvy, jeopardizing the perception of marketing as a key driver of business growth. - In creative production, teams are adopting specialized generative AI tools; Midjourney is widely used for stylized concept art and mood boarding, while Runway is a go-to platform for generating video from text prompts. - Agencies are implementing AI to automate complex workflows beyond content creation. The marketing agency Jellyfish, for instance, replaced parts of its traditional media buying process with AI bots, cutting campaign launch times by 65%. - Despite the literacy gap, investment is not lagging, with other Gartner research showing 76% of CMOs plan to increase AI-related spending even as overall marketing budgets remain flat. - This leadership challenge is part of a broader economic trend; the AI skills shortage has rapidly become the single most scarce technology skill for companies, jumping from sixth place in just 16 months. - To counter this, leadership experts recommend fostering a culture of psychological safety that empowers teams to experiment with AI integration in their workflows and learn from failures.