AI in Marketing: The Promise Is Real, But the Barriers Are Too

Legal concerns are slowing adoptionAI offers speed, scale, and cost savings — but many of the world’s biggest brands are struggling to move forward. According to the WFA, the top roadblock isn’t strategy. It’s legality. From intellectual property rights to data privacy compliance, navigating AI usage has become a legal minefield, especially for regulated industries.

Marketers want to move fast, but risk slows them downInternal fears about using large language models like ChatGPT improperly have led many companies to lock usage behind enterprise-grade tools vetted by legal and IT. While this protects the business, it also slows experimentation and limits adoption across teams.

Agencies bring help, but trust is an issueMany brands rely on agencies to handle the complexity — but concerns about transparency are growing. Some marketers now require contracts that restrict AI usage without permission. Rather than replacing agencies with AI, brands are actually investing more in their partners’ expertise.

Ethics matter more than everFrom the environmental impact of AI to bias in content outputs, brands are navigating a new layer of ethical decisions. There’s no universal playbook. Some companies embrace synthetic content, while others avoid it entirely. Most are still defining their stance.

The real wins are behind the scenes

Public-facing AI campaigns may generate buzz, but internal use cases like media reporting and planning are quietly delivering value. These improvements aren’t flashy — but they are foundational.

Most brands aren’t leading the AI race. They’re still figuring it out.  And that’s okay. The real edge lies in being intentional, informed, and aligned before scaling.

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