Here are five key changes in the way AI agents are used and understood across the marketing landscape.
1. From efficiency to growth
Last year, most marketers focused on getting more out of their teams and tools. That made sense: AI was new and the easiest wins were in productivity. Content creation tools (used by 69%) and copywriting (62%) were among the most common applications.
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Nowadays the bar is higher. Efficiency is taken for granted. Now the focus is on growth: using AI to drive innovation, unlock new revenue streams and create differentiation. Instead of ‘do more with less’, it’s ‘do more with more’. As the 2026 report puts it: “More is not better – better is better.” In other words, it’s not about how much AI you use, but what you do with it.
2. From competitive platforms to AI-powered buyers
In last year’s report, the biggest disruption was within marketing: established vendors versus upstart AI-native tools, or the challenge of managing ever-growing martech stacks.
This year, the most significant disruption is beyond marketing’s control: consumer use of tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for research and purchasing decisions is turning everything upside down. Half of all consumers are already using AI-powered search, putting as much as 50% of traditional search traffic at risk. That’s a huge power shift.
To respond, marketers are starting to embrace optimizing content for AI engines. Whether you call it AEO for AI engine optimization or GEO for generative engine, it means applying relevant schema types (such as Product, FAQPage, Review, and Article) that make it easier for AI to extract and display details like features, use cases, and customer reviews in results. It is still early, but the trend is clear: SEO alone will no longer get you seen.
3. From replacement to enlargement
Last year there was a lot of fuss about AI replacing martech as we know it. Would AI agents “eat SaaS”? Would traditional platforms become obsolete?
Turns out, not so much. The 2026 data shows that most companies are using AI to extend what they already have – not to rip and replace it. In fact, 85.4% of respondents said they are using AI to improve existing tools, and only 30.1% said they are replacing key parts of their stack.
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What emerges is a hybrid model: traditional, rules-based software combined with AI that can reason, generate and adapt. This mix of deterministic and probabilistic systems is quickly becoming the new standard.
4. Of data collection To data quality
In 2025, the biggest data challenge will be gaining access to it. Marketers have been all about setting up cloud data warehouses, centralizing information and building a universal data layer.
Now it’s about making sure the data is actually useful. The biggest hurdle in 2026? Poor data quality. More than half of marketers say they struggle with missing, outdated or inconsistent data. And when AI agents rely on that data to deliver insights, quality is more important than ever.
To solve this, marketers use Context Engineering to ensure AI gets the right input at the right time. That includes connecting CRM and CDP data, tapping into DAMs and CMSs, and enriching insights with both internal and external signals. Without reliable context, even the smartest AI can get things wrong.
5. From keeping systems running to increasing business impact
AI can change the role of marketing operations faster than anything else. MOps now has strategic responsibilities in addition to managing tools and ensuring campaigns are executed on time.
In 2026, MOps teams will become ‘business value engineers’. That means AI’s potential must be translated into results that matter, such as revenue growth, customer expansion and strategic insights. It is a mix of technical knowledge, cross-functional collaboration and the ability to change data into direction.
The bottom line
In just a year, marketing has changed from ‘how do we use this?’ to “how do we get started with this?” And expectations for marketing teams are rising accordingly.
AI is now a new layer in the way marketing works. That means rethinking how stacks are built, how customer journeys are designed, and how teams create value. Like it or not, marketing is becoming the most important change agent for organizations. The rewards and challenges are enormous.
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