Marketers Embrace AI but Face a Confidence Gap, New Maybe* Whitepaper Reveals 📃
London, UK – 6 November 2025
Maybe* today launched the first edition of The Big AI Secret, a landmark whitepaper exposing the truth behind marketing’s rush to embrace artificial intelligence.
The study, titled "Exploring the Confidence Gap in Using Artificial Intelligence: Insights from 1,000 Marketers," reveals a striking paradox: while AI experimentation is nearly universal, confidence remains alarmingly low. Based on candid interviews with more than 1,000 senior marketers, the findings show that although teams are eager to explore AI’s potential, most have yet to feel in control of it. This “AI confidence gap” underscores the reality that enthusiasm alone isn’t translating into ease or impact.
Key findings from the report include:
Near-universal trials, limited confidence: 92% of marketers surveyed have experimented with AI tools in the past 12 months, yet only 8% describe themselves as “fully confident” in using AI in their work. This points to a significant skills and trust deficit despite widespread AI curiosity.
Workloads on the rise: Instead of lightening the load, AI has increased workloads for 61% of marketers. Many report that implementing and managing AI solutions adds new tasks and complexities, rather than freeing up time as initially hoped.
Measurement miss: 47% of marketers report not measuring the right things when it comes to AI initiatives, indicating confusion over which metrics define success. This lack of clarity in measurement makes it more difficult to demonstrate AI’s value and secure ongoing support.
Popular use cases, patchy outcomes: The top AI use cases in marketing are content creation, customer insight generation, and campaign planning. However, only 12% of marketers report seeing consistent commercial outcomes from these AI efforts, highlighting a gap between experimentation and tangible results.
These findings depict an industry eager to leverage AI’s potential but held back by confidence and strategy gaps.
“Marketers are clearly excited about AI, but practical barriers are getting in the way of impact,” said Polly Barnfield OBE, CEO of Maybe*. “Our research shows teams drowning in tools and data, unsure what to trust or how to measure success. AI is supposed to make life easier - not harder – and that’s where the confidence gap emerges. We want to change that.”
Barnfield notes that the solution lies in focusing on outcomes and ease of use. “Businesses don’t need more hype; they need help cutting through the noise,” she added. “When AI works as part of the team – doing the heavy lifting but staying under your control – you see quick wins. The goal is to give marketers AI they can trust and handle confidently, so they get results fast without feeling out of their depth. This report is a wake-up call: making AI work for people is just as important as the technology itself.”
The AI Confidence Gap whitepaper not only highlights challenges but also shares success stories of marketers who are quietly turning things around. From content generation to customer insights, a growing minority is achieving efficiency gains and ROI by aligning AI with clear strategies and effectively training their teams.
The full white paper, "AI Confidence Gap: What 1,000 Marketers Told Us About the Future of Work with AI" is available for download at www.maybetech.com/ai-research. It offers detailed findings and practical recommendations to help organisations bridge the AI confidence gap and accelerate results.
About Maybe*
Maybe* helps businesses cut through the noise and make AI work as part of their team. Its secure, no-code platform enables organisations to build outcome-driven AI Agents that deliver results fast.
Visit the Maybe* Pressroom for detailed information and resources for journalists.
