Marketing professionals say they are overwhelmed by the pace of AI developments, according to a new survey.

While 70% of marketers often or always feel overwhelmed, just 30% rarely or never feel overwhelmed, according to a survey released by SOCi, a marketing platform for multi-location brands.

• “It’s a call to action for organizations to prioritize continuous learning and offer support to their teams. Otherwise, millions and billions invested in AI will be wasted,” said Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi.

No training or education. Perhaps contributing to some of that overwhelmed feeling is this survey finding:

• 42% of marketers haven’t received any formal training on AI and its applications in marketing.

As for the rest, 39% have received training while 19% are currently undergoing training.

• “We need to better equip our marketing teams with the right AI training and resources. A better understanding of AI and its applications is pivotal to harnessing its capabilities for our marketing strategies and unlocking its full potential,” Ho said.

More tools, more confusion. Rather than help marketers do their jobs better, the frequent introduction of new AI tools has caused confusion, according to 44% of respondents.

Why we care. If you’re feeling overwhelmed like the marketers in this survey, know you’re not alone. The speed of change we’ve seen this year in search marketing has been incredible and unlike any other year that I’ve seen covering this industry for 16 years.

The search marketer’s generative AI survival guide. Make sure to join me at SMX Next for my keynote presentation that will address this topic. (Register for free here.)

About the survey. Soci surveyed 317 digital marketing professionals, 55% of whom were decision-makers (including marketing managers, marketing analysts, marketing directors, CMOs and VPs), working at U.S. B2C companies.