CMOs need to embrace the future of ChatGPT and generative AI — leaders at IBM and Gartner share why

• To stay ahead, CMOs must embrace ChatGPT and generative AI, according to one IBM executive.
• Most CMOs are still figuring out the use case for generative AI, Gartner's chief of research said.

Today's chief marketing officer will not succeed without embracing technology like ChatGPT and generative AI, according to Jonathan Adashek, chief communications officer and senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM.

"We're in a world where cookies are going away. How do you serve up content? AI will be instrumental in serving up the right content for the right people in the right place," Adashek told Insider.

"Look beyond that to all of the data we're dealing with today — every company has more sources than ever," he said. "How do I cross all of those pieces? AI is going to be the one. Otherwise, it will take forever."

Robots will not replace marketers anytime soon, though it may make some marketing jobs obsolete, Adashek said. And when it comes to the actual task of creating content, tools like generative AI "will contribute to it, but not replace humans," he added.

Ewan McIntyre, vice president analyst and chief of research at Gartner, said most CMOs are still figuring out "the appropriate use case" for generative AI. "There's huge interest, but a degree of having to figure out exactly how to apply it and get the utmost value," he said.

"There are some interesting use cases in terms of big resource bottlenecks. Content is a hungry beast. At the same time, there's a sense from CMOs that we need to add it to the stack of technology we have, and make sure it aligns with the customer experiences they expect."

Marketers "have been big spenders on tech, but the challenge is that we see a declining rate of utilization of that tech," McIntyre said. "It can be a bit of 'shiny object syndrome.'"