Digiday+ Research: Marketing workflows benefit from AI, but trust is still a barrier to adoption

This is an excerpt from our Digiday+ Research report “The marketer’s guide to AI applications, agentic AI, AI search and GEO/AEO in 2026,” which explores how marketers are navigating the opportunities and challenges AI brings as it becomes an indispensable part of marketing. The report is based on a survey of 142 brand and agency professionals, as well as individual interviews with marketing and technology executives responsible for AI investments and applications development. Entering 2026, AI tools that were considered cutting edge only a year ago are now embedded across workflows for brands and agencies. Yet this rapid evolution has also brought new challenges, including how to best integrate AI into internal workflows and the complexity around agentic AI.This is a member-exclusive article from Digiday. Continue reading it on digiday.com and subscribe to continue reading content like this.