Ames suggests four steps to optimize investment in gen AI, starting with asking the CMO to provide periodic briefings on how gen AI is being used by the marketing team. She recommends creating a shared "database" to track gen AI use cases, and establishing a monthly or quarterly schedule for updates. This approach can help identify trends and productivity gains, and determine which tasks can be allocated to gen AI.
Key takeaways:
- Many CEOs believe that generative AI can replace a significant portion of their jobs and reduce marketing headcount, while most CMOs believe that gen AI will make marketing teams more productive without reducing team size.
- Generative AI is already being widely used in marketing for tasks such as content production, corporate and product messaging, org design, image generation, and more.
- Before making any staffing decisions, CEOs should partner with their CMOs to conduct focused and measurable trials of generative AI tools.
- CEOs should ask their CMOs to provide periodic briefings on generative AI use cases, and establish a system for tracking these use cases to identify trends and productivity gains.