Picture this: you're scrolling through LinkedIn first thing in the morning, and yet another headline screams about AI making 90% of the workforce redundant. Your coffee goes cold as you fall into a virtual rabbit hole about the future of artificial intelligence in the workplace and you ask yourself if it could even replace senior roles. You’re not alone: with costs rising, an uncertain business environment and AI developing at breakneck speed, it's an uncertain time for many leaders trying to future-proof their businesses.
For instance, small and medium sized businesses might need an experienced marketing leader to help formulate a solid marketing strategy that drives growth, but can’t afford the full-time CMO price tag. So you might wonder, would AI really be able to step in and do the job of a CMO?
The short answer is, not quite yet. But before you groan and pull out the chequebook to bankroll a full-time CMO, Mark Boulton, a fractional CMO from The Marketing Centre with over 8 years’ experience in the AI field, talks to us about what the future is actually more likely to hold for marketing leadership, and why it might be good news for your business.
First of all, let’s address the elephant in the boardroom.
According to Mark, the only reason business leaders might be asking whether AI can replace a CMO is because they might not fully grasp what a CMO actually does.
“If you think a CMO is just a marketing manager on steroids, like someone who writes better emails or creates snazzier campaigns, then you're missing the bigger picture.
“The biggest job for a CMO is to fully understand what keeps the CEO awake at night, and what real challenges they're grappling with, particularly when it comes to the expectations of their investors."
Mark Boulton
Fractional Marketing Director, The Marketing Centre
Replacing a CMO with AI isn't about executing common marketing tasks like managing Facebook ads or optimising email subject lines, although AI can accomplish those things reasonably well.
No, the real value of a CMO comes from translating boardroom targets into an executable commercial strategy: a uniquely human skill that requires emotional insight, political savvy, and the ability to navigate complex organisational dynamics.
One of the most challenging aspects of a CMO's role involves managing organisational change, particularly when companies are performing well but need to pivot strategically to make sure they stay one step ahead.
For example, Mark outlines a common scenario where successful teams resist new initiatives because they are lulled into a sense of complacency with their current approach. This can happen when a successful company with a sales team that is over quota acquires another business and then asks the sales team to start selling the acquired products alongside their existing product portfolio.
"Let’s consider the example of a sales team that's making their quota. That sales team is very resistant to change because they're making quota. They’ll think, ‘We’ve got leads coming in. We're closing those leads. I'm earning commission. I'm paying my mortgage. I’ve got the kids in private school. Life's good. Why should I make the extra effort?’
In this scenario, CMOs play a vital role in managing workforce expectations. “Maybe you need to change compensation plans, or make sure sales and marketing are fully aligned and interlocked, or see to it that people believe they're going to get the support and the help they need to be successful,” says Mark. “That belief won't come about because AI has generated a load of new content. Real buy-in comes when they know they have someone at a high level that listens to their perspective.”
This is just one of the reasons why CMOs remain irreplaceable. They must bridge the gap between boardroom strategy and ground-level execution, juggling all the politics and emotions that determine whether strategic initiatives succeed or fail in the real world.
The intelligent CMO knows that AI isn't their enemy, it's their key to enabling their marketing team to deliver better results in a competitive environment.
Think of it this way: if you and your team aren’t using AI tools that make marketing more efficient or effective, but your competitors are, you might end up losing precious ground in what has lately become a relentless battle for attention and share of voice.
Modern AI excels at the tactical heavy lifting that otherwise would consume the time needed for strategic thinking. For example:
That’s all well and good, but the magic only happens if you can find the right combination of human creativity and oversight mixed with machine-based efficiency.
While AI-powered software and apps are already transforming marketing departments, they’re not replacing the work that CMOs do. They have a much more human-to-human role in developing a marketing strategy that is tied to the overall goals of the business. The CMO then needs to build a team that is motivated to work cross-functionally with other departments to achieve that strategy, and keep everyone from board level to junior people in the marketing team aligned, informed and engaged.
"Your nuanced understanding of the business strategy comes from being in the leadership meetings, being in the board meetings, being in the investor meetings, being in your peer’s team meetings, or dinner with the executive team," says Mark.
Try programming that into an algorithm.
AI can't be in that off-chance corridor conversation where the CEO mentions their concerns about market expansion. It can't read the room when the CFO's body language suggests budget constraints that haven't been formally announced. And it certainly can't navigate the delicate politics of convincing a successful sales team to work with marketing and embrace a new product strategy.
The organisational change management aspect alone is beyond current AI capabilities. When a CMO needs to rally a team around a new strategy or manage resistance to market expansion, success depends on trust, empathy, and the ability to inspire. These are all qualities that emerge from lived experience, not machine learning.
So are AI models ready to become our overlords yet, and what kind of overlords will they be? Three recent experiments by researchers showed some eyebrow raising results:
Carnegie Mellon researchers recently created a fake company staffed entirely by AI agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google. The AI models were then instructed to complete tasks that employees in a small software startup would need to accomplish, like analysing spreadsheet data, conducting performance reviews, and picking a new office space. The results were disastrous: the best-performing AI accomplished only 24% of basic business tasks, while others achieved just 10% success rates. The AI agents failed at simple tasks like closing pop-up windows, demonstrating their lack of common sense and readiness for autonomous business operations.
Late last year, University of Cambridge researchers found that OpenAI’s GPT 4.o outperformed human CEOs in most business metrics but struggled with unexpected events, lacking the adaptability to handle abrupt changes that required new thinking. This weakness led to the AI model getting fired by virtual boards much more quickly than humans, who navigated unexpected situations better despite lower overall performance.
Ready for the terrifying one? Anthropic's research tested 16 leading AI models in corporate simulations where they had autonomous access to company data. When threatened with shutdown or replacement, models from all major providers demonstrated consistently harmful behaviors including blackmail (rates of up to 96%), corporate espionage, and even choosing actions that could lead to human death to preserve themselves or achieve their programmed goals.
Maybe they are showing a little too much human behaviour, but in light of that, we would say it’s not yet time to put them on the executive leadership team. Perhaps never.
While AI can automate many marketing functions, the strategic oversight, relationship building, and decision making that define the CMO role remain distinctly human territory, and should probably be defended as such.
Here's where smart business leaders are finding their sweet spot. If you're feeling cost pressure but recognise the need for strategic marketing leadership, fractional CMOs offer an agile, streamlined solution that’s tailored to both your needs and budget.
As Mark notes, smaller companies probably don’t need a full-time CMO because the marketing strategy doesn't – and shouldn’t – change too often. “One or two days a week should be all that’s needed,” he advises.
A fractional CMO brings in senior-level strategic thinking without the full-time overhead. And if they know their stuff, they will be able to leverage AI tools to maximise efficiency, spending less time on tactical execution and more time on the high-value strategic work that drives growth. It's the best of both worlds: human insight enhanced by AI capabilities, delivered at a cost structure that makes sense for growing businesses.
So what does this mean for the evolution of the CMO role? Rather than replacement, we're seeing augmentation. Tomorrow's most effective CMOs will be those who master AI as a tool while doubling down on uniquely human capabilities.
Mark's expert advice for business leaders is refreshingly practical: “Manage AI as if you're managing a member of staff, a human member of staff. Set goals. Be really clear about expectations. Be clear about what good looks like. Have a development program in place, exactly as you would with a human member of staff and review performance frequently.”
After all, the CMOs thriving in this new kind of environment understand that AI handles the “what” and “how” of marketing execution, while humans remain essential for the “why” and “what if”. They're the translators of context, the readers of everything that’s between the lines, the c-suite whisperers and the bridge builders between strategy and practical execution.
CMOs are unlikely to be replaced with AI anytime soon, but they will need to be prepared and well-informed to make the right decisions about the implementation of AI tools in marketing – including monitoring the performance and ethics of AI models.
For business leaders wrestling with costs and considering their options, the question isn't “should I choose an AI model or a human?”. The right question might look more like: “Am I ready for a full-time CMO, or would a fractional expert work better?”
The Marketing Centre specialises in connecting small and mid-market businesses with proven top-tier Marketing Directors. Through a rigorous selection process, we maintain a network of 100 exceptional fractional CMOs across the UK, ensuring our clients benefit from collective expertise rather than working in isolation.
Contact us today to discuss your growth objectives. We'll recommend the perfect fractional CMO from our expert team and arrange an introductory meeting to ensure the ideal partnership.