Savannah is a content marketer with editorial experience spanning several businesses. Specializing in social media and marketing trends, she loves talking about the latest developments in online marketing. When she’s not writing, Savannah loves traveling, hoarding books and coffee mugs, and adoring her cat. Please don’t ask her about famous true crime cases, or else she’ll tell you all about her theories and get absolutely no work done.
Key takeaways: Will AI replace marketers?
AI will replace and displace various mundane marketing tasks, but it is highly unlikely to replace human marketers.
Data analytics, online customer service, and content ideation are some of the marketing jobs impacted by AI.
AI can’t replace marketers because it lacks in-depth critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are evolving every day. With that, new use cases are constantly emerging, causing more businesses to complete tasks with AI. This growing dependence on AI has a lot of people asking, “Will AI replace marketing jobs?” and “Will AI replace digital marketers?”
While AI is taking the marketing world by storm, have no fear. We’re not about to tell you AI is taking over the world as we know it.
Let’s explore how AI has helped digital marketers and how it lacks some essential skills that marketing needs through these topics:
Whether you like it or not, AI and all its friends have already taken over the marketing world. But when I say, “taken over,” I don’t mean we’re in an I, Robot situation where human marketing professionals will be extinct in the coming years. Far from that, actually.
From machine learning to natural language processing tools (NLPs) and large language models (LLMs), the emergence of AI has significantly impacted how marketers and business leaders carry out day-to-day tasks and projects. In fact, seven out of 10 U.S. marketers are using generative AI tools in their work.
AI Terminology
Artificial intelligence (AI): A system that uses machine learning and algorithms to simulate human intelligence
Machine learning: A type of AI that enables machines to automatically learn from sets of data
Natural language processing (NLP): A type of AI that studies how computers interpret and generate data in human language
Large language models (LLMs): AI trained through text data to understand and generate new content
AI technology has carved a niche for itself in marketing in obvious and distinct ways.
Below are just a few ways AI is used in the marketing industry:
Yes, AI will replace and displace various marketing jobs, affecting some marketers more than others. However, while AI may replace a number of mundane marketing jobs, it is highly unlikely that it will completely replace marketers themselves.
If you’re wondering, “Will AI replace marketing jobs,” there are two sides to consider.
Yes, AI will replace and displace various marketing jobs, affecting some marketers more than others. It’s inevitable, especially with the rate at which marketing professionals and businesses are adopting AI tools.
But the jobs AI replaces or “takes over” are ones that many marketers see as time-consuming or don’t think much about to begin with, like analytics or simple customer service.
But will AI replace marketers? While it may replace a number of mundane marketing jobs, it is highly unlikely that AI will replace marketers themselves.
Why, you ask?
Marketing is all about creativity, empathy, and understanding human behavior. Successful marketing needs originality and a creative spark only humans can possess. Despite its efforts to replicate it, AI doesn’t have that capacity.
To demonstrate these points, keep reading to learn more about three marketing jobs AI can replace and four marketing jobs AI can’t replace.
3 marketing jobs impacted by AI
We briefly touched on it, but now let’s look a little more in-depth at some marketing jobs impacted by AI:
When doing research, it takes time to gather the right sources, analyze them, extract key points, and summarize information. AI, on the other hand, can do it in the blink of an eye.
Through AI marketing tools, the data collection and analysis process takes less time, leaving more time for marketers to draw conclusions from findings and make data-driven decisions. In fact, 51% of U.S. marketers said that AI tools have helped them with their data processing.
With the help of customer data that’s been collected and analyzed, AI can replace marketing jobs we don’t usually think about, like identifying the needs and preferences of audience segments, connecting with leads at different touchpoints, and more, all in a snap.
🎥 Video: Why is Data-Driven Marketing Effective?
2. Online customer service and support
As mentioned earlier, one of the marketing jobs impacted by AI is customer service. Human customer service representatives can’t be available to help users online 24/7.
With chatbots powered by AI and trained by your team on different prompts, users can enjoy 24/7 customer service even when your staff isn’t available.
Marketing AI for customer service helps your customers get the help they need fast and efficiently. It not only offers support to your customer service representatives, but it frees up more time for them by answering simple customer questions.
While AI takes care of the easy questions, your representatives can dedicate additional time to help customers requiring more one-on-one assistance.
3. Content ideation
If you’ve been following AI’s impact on marketing and business, you’ve likely heard how teams use platforms like ChatGPT to create and brainstorm content.
More than half of marketing and advertising professionals in Europe, and North and South America said they used generative AI to draft content. With AI technology constantly evolving, it’s not unlikely that content creation will become even more reliant on AI, with even more businesses using it to develop more in-depth content plans and article outlines.
4 reasons AI can’t replace marketers
Marketing is more than just trying to sell something or get someone to act. AI lacks a few key attributes of marketing jobs that AI cannot replace or eliminate.
AI excels at gathering information and analyzing data, but at the end of the day, AI lacks the critical thinking skills needed to make decisions. It can help plan and develop ideas and strategies, but AI can’t account for unique factors that may influence a decision.
So, will AI replace marketing jobs that require decision-making skills? Not anytime soon — AI would need to learn and internalize critical thinking skills and effectively process outside factors affecting a decision in order to successfully make choices for companies.
2. AI doesn’t write with human emotion and empathy
Try as it might to sound human, AI cannot write content with the same sense of compassion and human emotion as real human marketers can. Sure, you could prompt ChatGPT to write a blog post in a humorous voice, but it’ll never translate emotions into writing in a way that sounds genuine or natural.
Great writing that connects with people and leaves a lasting impression on them features relatable, human emotions. People react to things they can relate to.
Try as it might, AI is not human, and can’t accurately reflect genuine human emotions. That brings us to our next point.
3. AI won’t build lasting relationships on its own
AI programs can only do so much, and in a world where connecting with customers is vital to marketing success, a simple prompt to ChatGPT won’t be enough to convince a prospect to do business with you. So, rest assured — sales, outreach, and copywriting roles are marketing jobs AI can’t replace.
4. AI can’t develop original ideas
You can train AI with information and use it to come up with responses to user queries. AI can even identify patterns that humans might miss. However, AI can’t come up with wholly original ideas, because it relies on existing ideas and findings.
Even Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, which is said to be a “thinking model,” doesn’t possess creativity and human consciousness. While it might generate seemingly original ideas, the outputs are from identifying patterns and probabilities based on the data it was fed.
So, in many aspects, content creation is a marketing job AI can’t fully replace. Sure, it can assist content creators with their work, but it can’t successfully do the job for them.
AI is a tool — embrace it!
Expert insights from
Trevin S.Vice President of Business Development at WebFX
“AI is another item in your toolbox. You don’t want to be afraid of it, but rather open to learning about it and using it where appropriate. AI still requires plenty of human guidance, even if your marketing organization wants to use it aggressively.”
If you’re still apprehensive about using AI in marketing, we get it. It’s a new tool that can do a lot, so it’s normal to feel nervous about it all.
But while the prospect of using AI sounds scary, it’s a tool that should be embraced, and used responsibly and ethically, because it can do a lot of good for your business.
“Like a lot of emerging trends, you need to pick your spots on when to use AI,” Trevin says. “There’s an early mover advantage for companies that find ways to roll it out very aggressively, but that also comes with increased risk.”
Trevin advises going with some lower-stakes options if you’re unsure about where to start. “Think of a few marketing processes that have gone stale. Could AI make them better?” he advises. “Do you have any marketing byproducts sitting by idly (such as internal resources, outdated PDFs, and long-form interviews)? Use AI to help repurpose or re-energize them. These are some lower-risk tactics that could still have nice long-term dividends for marketing teams.”
Find some ways to save a few minutes per week for your teams and then go from there. This allows everybody time to trial AI in a practical way.”
Even if your company is planning on using AI more aggressively, you can still take AI integration one step at a time. When people are apprehensive about it, it’s more beneficial to view AI as a tool that you can harness for good, rather than an entity that’s going to “take over” jobs.
“Stay focused on the same value-add and goals you’ve been working toward,” Trevin advises. “In the end, AI can be an accelerant to your goals and the value you are bringing to an organization. Marketing is all about human connection, which AI can’t replicate. But it might allow you to create that magic a little easier.”
Get top-notch AI integration services from WebFX
AI integration is about more than just investing in a new tool and jumping into the next project. It requires proper planning and implementation that doesn’t happen overnight. Luckily, WebFX offers AI and GPT integration services so you can start embracing AI without the stress of having to integrate it by yourself.
WebFX is a full-service digital marketing agency home to 500+ team members who stay on top of the latest AI and martech trends. We’re one of the best digital marketing agencies in the world and the top Atlanta digital marketing agency. With over 29 years of experience, we can help you responsibly use AI tools to help drive your business forward.
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Savannah is a content marketer with editorial experience spanning several businesses. Specializing in social media and marketing trends, she loves talking about the latest developments in online marketing. When she’s not writing, Savannah loves traveling, hoarding books and coffee mugs, and adoring her cat. Please don’t ask her about famous true crime cases, or else she’ll tell you all about her theories and get absolutely no work done.
