Dave Gerhardt

B2B Marketers Use AI Daily, Remain Optimistically Cautious

We polled 540 B2B marketers on how they feel about AI right now. Here's what stood out. Note: this was just a little newsletter poll, not super scientific, but still interesting directionally if you're in B2B marketing. 1. Everyone's already using it. 92% use AI at least weekly and 71% every single day. Whatever pushback exists isn't coming from holdouts — it's coming from people who live in these tools and have real opinions from actually using them, not from reading think pieces about them. 2. Nobody's panicking. At least they didn't admit to it. The most common feeling was "optimistic but cautious" (35%), and only about 1 in 5 rated their fear of losing their job in the next 18 months an 8 or higher out of 10. The average worry score was a 4.9 — right in the middle. There's fatigue in there, but it's hype fatigue, not tool fatigue. They've made their peace with it. 3. The fear is slop, not job loss. This is the whole "dead internet theory" prob. The # 1 worry (34%) was AI flooding every channel with low-quality content. B2B marketers aren't scared for themselves — they can see how they stay employed. They're scared the bar is dropping while the boss asks for more AI, more efficiency, more "tell me what you did with Claude this week." That's the right thing to worry about. And it's exactly why good work is about to stand out more, not less. 4. The CMOs and VPs are the most into it using AI at work. 83% of CMOs and VPs use AI every single day, more than the directors and managers below them. They're also the least worried and, by a wide margin, the most excited. My read: AI is handing the CMO job back to the actual craft. Less managing the machine, more taste and judgment. So the people at the top are leaning in the hardest. Or the CMOs are thinking, sheeet I gotta learn this stuff so I don't get lapped. The full breakdown is in this week's newsletter if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/eCv-xbSV