How generative AI’s role will evolve in 2025 as marketers probe its utility

29 Jan 2025

Marketing executives hold a range of opinions about generative artificial intelligence (AI), from the evangelistic to the alarmist, but many are aligning around a shared sentiment: The tech is getting “less sexy” in 2025. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Following a year during which campaigns made with generative AI received a shellacking, greater attention is being paid to the back-of-house functions for which automation tools can improve efficiency, provide scale and steer clear of consumer outcry. Assessing forks in the customer journey or toying with synthetic audience data could drive more meaningful results than experiments with the latest software like OpenAI’s Sora, at least in the near term. In the months ahead, demands for concrete outcomes will also start to sort out AI’s winners and losers, with emergent disruptors like DeepSeek’s R1 model intensifying pressure to lower costs.

“Is [AI] going to just start creating TV ads on its own? That’s a fun topic to debate over drinks,” said Josh Campo, CEO of digital agency Razorfish. “In the real world, where we’re at today, there’s a lot of things that gen AI can do that have dramatic productivity impacts. The things it does best seem to be the things that people don’t like to do.”

Generative AI underpins a tension that has long dogged marketing decision-makers: the need to keep up with the latest technology trends without falling victim to shiny penny syndrome. The shiny penny trap has indeed been sprung several times in recent years, with marketers making crazes like the metaverse their next big bet before quickly abandoning those ambitions, leaving digital wastelands in their wake.

AI feels different in regard to its transformational potential, and the amount of investment pouring into the category will ensure momentum for some time to come.