It is up to us, leaders
Stanford’s wake-up call, Amazon’s bold moves, and Canva’s power play—what marketers need to know now.
It’s been a big week—this edition is packed. One thing’s clear: AI is no longer emerging. It’s here, scaling fast, and rewriting how marketing gets done.
New AI Study
The AI Index 2025: A Business Wake-Up Call
AI Index 2025 by Stanford HAI
Artificial intelligence is becoming ubiquitous in business.
Stanford’s new AI Index 2025 confirms what many already feel:
AI has gone from optional to essential.
In 2024, 78% of organizations used AI, up from just 55% the year before—a massive leap in adoption.
71% of companies using AI reported revenue gains in marketing and sales, though most increases were modest (<5%).
The message is clear: AI adoption is accelerating—fast. Even with modest early ROI, companies are betting big: $252B was invested in AI globally last year, with $33.9B in generative AI alone. The U.S. leads by far, investing 12x more than China.
Under the hood, some deeper trends are unfolding:
Industry Takes the Lead
90% of top AI models now come from companies—not academia.Performance Up, Costs Down
Model quality has surged (e.g., SWE-bench up 16x), while inference costs dropped from $20 to just $0.07 per million tokens.Open Models & China Close the Gap
Open-weight models now rival closed ones, and China nearly matches U.S. benchmarks.AI Is Delivering
From customer service to supply chains, AI is already driving efficiency—even if savings are still under 10%.Trust Is Falling Behind
AI incidents rose 56%, and responsible AI adoption remains weak—especially in Western markets.
The bottom line is that AI is no longer experimental; it’s strategic. The gap between companies embedding AI across workflows and those still watching from the sidelines is growing.
What This Means for Marketing Leaders
AI is no longer optional—it’s infrastructure. As tools become cheaper and more powerful, the brands integrating AI will gain an advantage.
This isn’t about futureproofing—it’s about not falling behind. The next 12 months will separate the leaders from the laggards.
