Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly to transform both the workplace and the way people work.
While there are many roles and skills that AI can’t replace, the technology definitely is having an impact on digital marketing jobs – in some cases causing them to be replaced by AI or made redundant in its favor.
But what about AI and digital marketing? Unfortunately, no industry is immune and today’s marketers are having to upskill and adapt to keep up with the pace of AI-powered change.
In this blog, we’ll cover:
- How is AI impacting the job market?
- What is an AI-first approach?
- Examples of companies using AI
- How do marketers use AI?
- What new roles might AI introduce?
- 5 ways marketers can stay relevant in the age of AI
How is AI impacting the job market?
Let’s begin by looking at the impact of AI on the job market. While it’s hard to effectively predict the future as the technology continues to evolve – some of which we’re not even aware of yet – it’s clear that AI is causing displacement in the workforce.
Those feeling the most impact are recent graduates or entry-level workers. For example:
- According to a report by Oxford Economics, unemployment for recent college graduates has jumped to an unusually high 5.8%.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned that the employment situation for these workers had ‘deteriorated noticeably’.
What’s the immediate impact of AI?
So, what does this mean for the job market? This economic data shows that unemployment rates for college graduates have jumped, particularly in technical fields like finance and computer science, where A.I. has made faster gains.
According to the New York Times, this signals that entry-level positions are being displaced by artificial intelligence at higher rates.
“A Stanford study looked at tasks that marketers would do on a regular basis. It found that AI usage and AI models reduced the time from 90 to 30 minutes. The macro economist view is to say, if it makes workers three times more productive, that’s a good thing for the economy and the world. The other way to look at this is to say, if [AI] can do these tasks in a third of the time, maybe I only need a third of the people,” said Jim Lecinski, Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
But it’s not only those starting out that are feeling the impact of AI. Mid-level, experienced workers are also having to grapple with the technology in their day-to-day roles. For example, they are being asked to reach or surpass ambitious KPIs and deliver a strong ROI on marketing activities.
How are companies using AI effectively?
Companies are racing to adopt the technology to automate and take over repetitive tasks. As a result, workers are under pressure to understand how to use AI effectively – a task which can take time and energy, on top of other tasks.
On the other hand, those at a senior level are also under pressure to implement AI because it’s believed to help increase productivity and improve efficiency.
There are so many AI platforms and tools out there, which raises several questions:
- Which ones are best?
- What functions can be taken over by AI effectively?
- How can you deal with AI-related challenges, such as trust, ethics and transparency?
Top tip: On the DMI podcast Lecinski recently offered great advice on how marketers at all levels (junior/entry level, mid-level, and senior level or CMO) should use AI.
What is an AI-first approach?
Some companies have jumped on board fast to become early adopters of the ‘AI-first’ workplace.
Lecinski believes that companies are “trying to figure out how to create assets, whether it’s for television, LinkedIn or Facebook using AI, and looking at every link in the production and strategy value chain to see how the technology can add value or how they should think about using it.”
Examples of companies implementing AI
In 2023, fintech company Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, announced he wanted his company to be the ‘favorite guinea pig’ of OpenAI, instituting a hiring freeze and replacing as many workers as possible with AI systems, according to a Fast Company article.
However, due to declining service quality and customer dissatisfaction, Klarna rolled back on AI as a replacement for its customer service function and is currently rehiring human agents.
This highlights the limitations of AI in handling complex, empathetic customer interactions and shows the value of human support, reported Forbes.
Language learning platform Duolingo followed suit in 2025 to announce an AI-first shift. It said that it would stop using contractors to do work that that AI can handle and would only increase head count when teams had maximized all possible automation.
As a result of this announcement, the company misstepped badly as they have a social product that’s popular with kids. As a result, young people flocked to TikTok to voice their dissatisfaction with the decision. Many protested by giving up their hard-earned streaks on the app.