Canva‘s third annual State of Marketing & AI report finds that AI is now standard practice for marketing teams: 97% of marketing leaders use AI in their daily creative work, and 99% plan to increase AI investment in 2026.
AI in marketing
According to the study, 41% of marketing leaders describe AI as functioning like a “director”, while 39% say it operates more like a “collaborator.”
Some 68% say AI has increased the number of marketing-influenced business decisions, and 99% plan to increase AI spending in 2026.
Despite the gains in AI for marketing, 41% of marketing teams consider “AI slop” a real challenge.
What AI can’t replace
Marketing leaders believe that AI cannot fully replicate empathy and emotional intelligence (42%), the kind of human imperfection that sparks originality (41%), and brand intuition and creative judgment (41%).
Three-quarters of leaders expect a significant increase in creative roles over the next five years, underscoring the growing importance of imagination, direction, and judgment in the evolving marketing landscape.
“ÁI has changed how marketing gets made, but not what makes it effective. Speed and scale matter, but they don’t build trust on their own. We need to build a smarter system where AI drives efficiency while brand governance and creative judgment protect what makes a brand distinctive,” said Emma Robinson, head of B2B growth marketing at Canva.
In partnership with The Harris Poll, the survey polled 1,415 marketing leaders and 3,547 consumers globally, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and India.
