Australian marketers are falling behind their US counterparts when it comes to preparing their teams for AI, with new research revealing just 6 per cent of local organisations have a clearly documented roadmap for deploying the technology.
The inaugural Global Centre for AI in Marketing (GCAM) benchmark report found only 27 per cent of Australian marketers feel fully ready to lead AI-driven change, compared with 48 per cent of their US counterparts.
And while AI adoption continues to gather pace across the industry, the research suggests many Australian marketing leaders are still working out how to lead the transition themselves.
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of Australian respondents said they need to improve their own AI skills before they feel ready to lead change, significantly higher than the 46 per cent of US marketers who said the same.
The gap also extends to planning, with just 6 per cent of Australian organisations reporting a clearly documented AI deployment roadmap for their marketing teams. In the US, the figure was marginally higher at 7 per cent.
A further 37 per cent of Australian respondents said their organisation had a partially documented roadmap, suggesting the majority are yet to establish a clear plan for putting AI into practice.
The findings come from GCAM’s inaugural US AI in Marketing Benchmark Report, Confidence Outpaces Accountability, which compares US findings against ACAM’s 2026 Australian benchmark, developed with research partner Kantar.
Roadmap, planning and investment emerged as the weakest of seven AI maturity drivers across both markets.
Australian marketers also reported greater gaps in the practical skills needed to bring AI into everyday work. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) identified integrating AI tools into daily workflows as a skills gap, compared with 56 per cent in the US.
More than half (53 per cent) of Australian respondents also said evaluating and selecting the right AI tools was an area where they needed to build capability, against 35 per cent of US marketers.
On average, Australian marketers estimated that just 45 per cent of their teams were highly skilled and confident using AI, compared with 52 per cent in America.
However, concerns about the quality of AI-generated content appear to be shared across both markets.
AI slop was the most frequently selected concern among respondents, ranking in the top three concerns for 61 per cent of Australian marketers and 78 per cent of US respondents.
When it comes to overall AI maturity, half of Australian respondents (50 per cent) and 52 per cent of US marketers sat at level three, or ‘Early Emerging’, on GCAM’s six-level maturity scale.
But US organisations were more likely to have progressed further, with 29 per cent reaching level four or above, compared with just 17 per cent in Australia.
Louise Cummins, co-founder and CEO of the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) and GCAM, said the findings highlighted the need for organisations to move beyond simply giving their teams access to AI tools.
“Confidence needs to be matched by a plan people can act on. Leaders need to be clear about what AI should achieve and who is accountable for results,” Cummins said.
“The question is moving beyond whether marketers have access to AI. The harder question is whether organisations know what they are trying to achieve with it, which capabilities they need, and how their people, workflows and investment decisions need to change.”
The US benchmark was developed in partnership with The CMO Syndicate, using the framework established for the Australian research.
The US study surveyed 126 marketing professionals, predominantly CMOs and senior marketing leaders, while the Australian benchmark surveyed 126 marketing leaders across 12 industries.
