An increased amount of senior marketers are signing off AI strategy without any human review, according to a new study from independent media agency Bench Media.
While Bench Media’s ‘The Confidence Equation’ report found ninety percent of marketing leaders surveyed say decisions have become easier, 38 per cent of them are signing off AI strategy without human input.
The Confidence Equation is based on a Bench Lens survey of more than seventy senior client-side marketing leaders across Australia. It found 90 per cent of those surveyed say decision-making has become easier over the past year. That’s despite 59 per cent naming the volume of AI and new technology tools as the biggest factor still making decisions more complex.
Key findings from the respondents include nearly half (48 per cent) say AI has made them more confident in their decisions, and 41 per cent say AI is the input they rely on most when deciding whether to take a calculated risk.
That reliance grows with the size of the bet. Leaders managing budgets over $20 million are roughly twice as likely to lean on AI for a calculated risk as those managing under $20 million (51 per cent versus 24 per cent).
Meanwhile, more than a third (38 per cent) accept AI-generated strategic recommendations without human review. That rises to 45 per cent for budget recommendations and creative concepts.
Most leaders (59 per cent) still back their own judgement when an AI recommendation conflicts with it. Bench predicts this will become a defining leadership capability.
“I went into this research expecting AI to make senior marketers less confident, with them second-guessing their own judgement,” said Jess Torstensson, general manager, growth at Bench Media. “The data said the opposite. Confidence isn’t about trusting AI more, it’s about knowing when to trust it, when to challenge it, and when to trust yourself.”
Torstensson said: “The scarce skill in senior marketing is shifting from prompting AI well to knowing when to override it and being able to defend that call to a Board that increasingly assumes the machine is right.
“Call it veto literacy. It doesn’t show up in a job description yet, but it will,” she said.
Leaders also ranked seven key influences on their confidence levels.
When weighted across responses, AI came out on top at 23 per cent, followed closely by data (21per cent) and experience (20 per cent), internal leadership and industry conversation each accounted for 11 per cent each, agencies 8 per cent and peers 6 per cent. With no single input dominating, Bench argues the advantage will go to organisations that build a clear framework for which input leads on which decision.
Torstensson recommends the next step for marketing leaders is to pair AI output for strategic and budget decisions with fast, targeted primary research.
“Confidence is useful when you can explain what informed the decision. That means giving leaders a process for testing AI’s advice, challenging it and standing behind the final decision,” she said.
Commenting on the findings, Hisense general manager – marketing, Michelle Wee, said: “The strongest decisions come from combining technology with a deep understanding of consumers, culture, brands and business objectives. AI should enhance our thinking, not replace it.”
And Emma Fogarty, head of marketing & category at nudie Foods, said: “There still needs to be a human in the loop. The outputs need to be challenged, validated and considered in context.”
