Nearly 90% of senior marketing professionals use AI daily, but 80% say they frequently encounter inaccurate or misleading AI findings, according to a GWI survey reported by Marketing Dive. The report, "Artificial Intelligence: The AI Trust Gap," surveyed 1,883 senior insights, agency and marketing professionals in the U.K., U.S. and Singapore in the third quarter of 2026, all at companies with over 500 employees or $26.5 million in annual turnover.
Only 36% say they verify AI insights "most of the time," and 63% say they have accidentally used insights they later realized were out of date. Nearly 70% have seen AI fail to accurately reflect their organization's target audience in profiles, yet 81% say they feel confident using AI for audience profiles and segmentation, per the report.
Over half of senior decision-makers have made a significant business decision based on AI insights that turned out to be incorrect or misleading, GWI found. 82% reported at least one adverse outcome, most often internal rework (38%), delayed decisions (36%) and customer complaints (34%), with 21% seeing weaker campaign performance.
Jason Mander, chief insight officer at GWI, told Marketing Dive the findings suggest companies "haven't put the type of rigorous frameworks in place that you would expect with a new type of technology."