Smartly and market research consultancy Alter Agents have released findings on how marketing professionals are adapting to artificial intelligence, highlighting a growing emphasis on human creativity, strategic judgment and oversight as AI becomes more integrated into advertising workflows.
The study, The Agentic Era: A Marketer’s Guide, surveyed 500 marketing professionals in the United States and United Kingdom. Its central finding is that AI adoption is already widespread among respondents, shifting attention toward how marketers can use the technology productively without compromising brand identity or creative quality.
According to the research, 99% of respondents use AI professionally or personally, while 81% say AI enables them to pursue larger projects and ideas than they could accomplish independently. At the same time, 95% consider training in strategic or uniquely human capabilities valuable for addressing their AI skills gaps.
The results suggest that advertising teams are moving beyond experimentation toward a more operational question: how to integrate AI into campaign development while retaining meaningful human control over creative and commercial decisions.
AI Adoption Creates New Priorities for Advertising Teams
Smartly, an AI-powered advertising technology company, commissioned the research, which Alter Agents conducted online from July 21–31, 2026. Participants included 250 U.S. and 250 U.K. marketing professionals, each with at least five years of experience.
The findings indicate that widespread AI use has not eliminated concerns about creative differentiation. While 85% of respondents appreciate brands using AI to bring concepts to life, nearly two-thirds worry that the technology could make advertising less distinctive.
For advertisers, this creates a tension between production efficiency and brand differentiation. Generative AI can help teams explore concepts, adapt creative assets and accelerate routine work, but greater production capacity does not automatically translate into more original or effective campaigns.
The survey also highlights the importance of human approval. Seventy-seven percent of respondents are comfortable with AI in advertising when a human retains final approval, while 81% say they would trust a brand more if it disclosed AI-generated advertising.
These findings point to governance and transparency as important considerations for companies deploying AI-generated creative. However, the survey measures respondents’ reported attitudes, not observed consumer behavior or the actual performance of AI-assisted advertising campaigns.
Experience Gaps and Workforce Readiness
The research also identifies differences in how marketers at different career stages approach AI. Respondents with fewer than 10 years of experience were twice as likely as more-experienced colleagues to report using AI for at least 75% of their daily tasks.
Meanwhile, 46% of more-experienced marketers associated AI with stress, compared with 26% of those with less experience.
These differences suggest that AI adoption is not simply a matter of providing employees with access to new tools. Organizations also need to consider training, workflow redesign and the confidence employees have in using AI effectively.
The study found strong demand for training in creative brainstorming, strategic planning and ethical AI use. For marketing leaders, these priorities reinforce the need to develop skills that complement automation rather than focusing exclusively on technical tool proficiency.
The results do not establish why the experience gap exists, nor do they show that younger marketers produce better advertising outcomes. They do, however, highlight the importance of evaluating AI readiness across teams rather than assuming employees will adapt at the same pace.
Market Landscape: From AI Adoption to Agentic Advertising
The findings arrive as advertising technology providers increasingly incorporate AI into campaign planning, creative production, optimization and performance analysis. The next stage involves systems that can execute more complex, multistep tasks with less manual intervention.
Smartly’s report connects these developments to the emerging agentic era and its recently introduced principles for advertising. The company’s position emphasizes combining AI-powered capabilities with human creativity, strategic thinking and oversight.
For advertising platforms, the commercial opportunity lies in helping marketing teams coordinate more work while maintaining control over brand standards and campaign objectives. For agencies, AI could expand production capacity and free specialists to focus on strategy, client relationships and creative direction.
Yet wider adoption also raises questions about accountability. Organizations need clear rules governing approval authority, disclosure, data use and the circumstances in which automated systems can modify or launch campaigns.
The research provides a useful snapshot of marketer sentiment, but it is not a market-wide measurement of AI effectiveness. Its findings should be interpreted within the limits of its 500-person sample and self-reported responses.
Strategic Outlook
The study suggests that the next phase of AI adoption in advertising will depend on how effectively organizations combine automation with human expertise. Simply increasing the volume of creative assets or automating more campaign tasks will not necessarily improve business performance.
Marketing leaders should establish clear approval processes, define acceptable uses of AI-generated content and train employees in strategic planning, creative evaluation and responsible AI use. They should also measure whether AI-assisted workflows improve production time, campaign effectiveness and creative consistency.
For AdTech vendors, human oversight and transparency could become important differentiators as customers assess increasingly autonomous advertising tools. The challenge will be to demonstrate measurable business value while keeping marketers accountable for the decisions made by AI systems.
Smartly and Alter Agents’ findings support this direction, although independent performance data will be needed to establish which approaches deliver the strongest results.
Top Insights
- AI use is widespread: 99% of surveyed marketers report using AI professionally or personally.
- Human oversight remains important: 77% are comfortable with AI in advertising when a human retains final approval.
- Creative differentiation is a concern: Nearly two-thirds worry AI could make advertising less distinctive.
- Training is a priority: 95% value training in strategic or uniquely human capabilities to address AI skills gaps.
- Experience influences adoption: Less-experienced marketers report heavier daily AI use, while more-experienced respondents report greater AI-related stress.
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