4 Key Insights From Slack’s Study Into AI Marketing Trends

While generative AI is continuing to evolve, the impact it’s having on several industries is undeniable.

One industry that has seen a major shift as a result of the new technology is digital marketing. 

Slack released an insightful guide and study, “New trends in AI use among marketing professionals.” 

Here, we will review their findings and add context to help you get insight into the potential impacts of generative AI within digital marketing, according to their research.

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Marketers are early adopters of AI tech, 41% incorporate AI as of March 2024.
• This trend is in line with similar studies, such as Salesforce’s 2024 State of Marketing Report, which found 75% of marketers were integrating AI into their jobs.
• 84% of marketing professionals indicate that AI is helping to boost their productivity.
• Sentiment around AI use in the marketing industry is positive, with 50% of professionals indicating excitement about incorporating AI into their workflow.
  
  • However, a study that Slack released later in 2024 indicated that global sentiment about AI in the workplace was declining (47% in March 2024 to 41% by August). So, it’s important to continue monitoring this trend.

Originality.ai offers a fantastic suite of tools for marketers and web publishers in the age of AI, such as an AI Checker and Site Scan to help you maintain transparency about the content you publish.

Slack’s Study Into AI Digital Marketing Trends: Quick Overview

In 2024 (from March 6th to March 24th, 2024), the Slack Workforce Lab conducted a global survey in collaboration with the Qualtrics research firm.

Professionals from countries including the US, Australia, the UK, Germany, and more took part in the study.

In total, they surveyed 10,000 desk workers, of which they had a sample of 829 marketing professionals. 

Here’s a breakdown of the key trends the study uncovered and our take:

1. Workplace Adoption of AI Tools is Rising in Digital Marketing

While the adoption of AI is still in its infancy in many job roles, marketing is certainly showing signs as one of the “early adopters” of AI innovation in the workplace.

According to the study, workplace adoption of AI tools increased by 23% (compared to the previous quarter).

Further, they found that 41% of marketers are incorporating AI into their workflow as of March 2024.

Our take: 

It would make sense that marketing professionals are among the early adopters of generative AI, given its capabilities when it comes to content ideation, briefing, and outline creation. 

Slack’s finding is also in keeping with similar studies that have found AI is increasingly being incorporated into marketing. In their 2024 State of Marketing Report, Salesforce reported that an even higher percentage of marketers were integrating AI into their jobs at 75%.

So, AI is now a mainstream marketing trend in 2025.

However, one thing that marketing professionals must be aware of is over-reliance on these tools. 

We’ve studied Google’s penalties for AI content; further, Google recently updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines in 2025.

These guidelines now include specific guidance around how raters should apply ratings to AI content (if the main content is entirely or almost entirely AI-generated and doesn’t add unique value, raters are instructed to apply the lowest rating).

So what does this mean for marketers?

Even as AI is continuing to become increasingly adopted into workflows, it’s important to remember that the best marketing efforts help brands stand out from the crowd. 

From a content marketing perspective, this means maintaining transparency in the content you publish is more important than ever by incorporating tools like AI Checkers into your editorial workflow.

2. AI Can Be a Great Tool for Productivity

Aside from usage increasing, so too has productivity, with 80% of those using AI tools (overall, not just the marketers surveyed) claiming it has improved productivity.

Then, of the marketing experts who incorporate AI tools at work, 84% claim the technology is improving productivity.

Our take: 

As people are becoming more comfortable with what generative AI can (and can’t) do, it would make sense that marketing professionals find the tools to be helpful with productivity.

After all, when used effectively, generative AI can greatly speed up content strategizing and reduce time spent on manual aspects of setting up campaigns.

Discover more tips on how AI can improve productivity for content marketing professionals, such as through AI content brief creation or building a topic cluster strategy.

3. In Marketing, AI has 3 Popular Applications

According to Slack’s study, marketing professionals are relying on generative AI tools for three main uses: writing assistance, content generation, and research.

Our Take: 

Slack’s findings align with some of the top goals of marketing professionals:

• Writing great content that engages audiences
• Finding ways to improve and streamline the content creation process
• Adding unique value and research to content, so that it aligns with Google’s people-first content approach. 

However, as noted earlier in our review of this study, even with content generation being a popular use case, it’s important to be mindful of the potentially negative impacts.

In addition to Google’s penalties for AI content that doesn’t comply with spam policies and recently updated search quality rater guidelines, AI can also produce hallucinations and present incorrect information as a fact. As such, it’s also becoming increasingly important to fact-check content.

4. Sentiment Around Usage of AI Tools Varies by Industry

Generally speaking, marketing professionals are moderately more “excited” than average about AI’s potential to make them more effective in their roles.

The study found that 50% of marketers are excited about the idea of AI “handling tasks,” compared to 47% of the global population.

Sentiment around AI was even more positive in other industries, with 68% of software engineers and 66% of IT professionals noting they were excited about AI. This was in contrast to sales experts, of which 44% indicated excitement, and customer support professionals at 41%.

So, how did the remaining percentage of marketers feel about AI?

According to Slack’s findings in the marketing industry, the remaining 28% felt neutral about it, and 22% had concerns.

Our take: 

These numbers are very interesting, especially when you look deeper into the industry-by-industry data. 

It would make sense that those working in tech-based industries are more excited about technology, especially given the recent trend of AI agents.

This level of excitement will be interesting to track as AI begins to truly change the landscape of these industries to see whether or not that concern drops or potentially increases. 

Especially considering that following the publication of their March 2024 study, Slack also published results in November 2024 (based on a survey conducted in August 2024). 

Slack’s Fall 2024 Workforce Index noted that overall sentiment around AI usage was actually declining from the global average of 47% published in March to 41% by August of 2024.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s clear that generative AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and adoption is likely to continue increasing. 

However, how you use AI tools is extremely important, and maintaining digital integrity and transparency is crucial for long-term results. 

Fortunately for marketers and web publishers, Originality.ai offers a fantastic range of tools for you to take advantage of, including but not limited to an AI Checker, a Plagiarism Checker, and Site Scanner.

Get more insights into the latest in AI and marketing in our top guides:

• OpenAI Partnerships List
• Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines: Key Insights About AI Use
• DeepSeek: What Is It and Why It’s Disrupting the AI Industry