Prepare for an increasing wave of automation as next year unfolds, with robots poised to take on more roles.

Insights from a recent survey targeting leading marketing executives in the U.S. reveal that numerous companies are gearing up to downsize their workforce, pivoting towards greater reliance on artificial intelligence. This highlights a significant shift where AI’s most profound influence might not be in chatbots or trending deepfakes, but rather in workforce reductions.

Spencer Stuart, a prominent executive search agency, conducted a study in November engaging 90 chief marketing officers. The survey probed how extensively these leaders plan to leverage AI to trim their employee numbers, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Findings indicate that over 33% of these executives anticipate issuing layoff notices within the upcoming year or two as they incorporate more AI solutions into their operations.

The situation appears more pronounced among larger corporations.

Nearly half the executives at firms worth more than $20billion said they’re planning significant job cuts. 

Spencer Stuart’s survey — which focused on corporate America’s vast marketing workforce, including copywriters, graphic designers, social media managers, data analysts, and PR staff — worsens the already bleak outlook for American workers.

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 7.8 million Americans are unemployed, the highest number in four years. 

Americans have become increasingly worried that executives will replace workers with robots and AI. Pictured above is Mika, the world’s first so-called robotic CEO, developed by Hanson Robotics for Polish rum company Dictador

It comes as several massive tech companies have recently laid off thousands of workers, hiring has slowed, and private jobs data suggest that small businesses are quickly slashing staff.

And now, according to the survey, the outlook could sour even more.  

The executives said there were three main reasons they would slash jobs: to fix pandemic-era over-hiring, to prepare for a slowing economy, and to launch more internal AI products. 

There are more than 6 million Americans with marketing roles, according to the American Marketing Association.

The news also comes as America’s biggest bosses say job cuts will multiply for workers who don’t learn how to use AI tools now.  

‘AI will eliminate jobs,’ Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, warned during an interview on Fox Business.  

‘My advice to people would be critical thinking. Learn skills. Learn how to be good at communicating and how to write. You’ll have plenty of jobs.’ 

Doug McMillon, the top boss at Walmart; Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford; and Beth Galetti, the top HR lead at Amazon, have all issued similar warnings. 

But Abigail Wright, a senior business advisor at the National Chamber of Commerce, told the Daily Mail that she believes the warnings from top leaders about AI-driven job losses are overblown. 

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, explicitly told American workers that AI will cull American jobs: ‘My advice to people would be critical thinking. Learn skills. Learn how to be good at communicating and how to write’

AI has already made an impact in the marketing world. This holiday season, Coca-Cola’s iconic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ ads have been generated by an AI studio

‘The real transformation is task-level, not job-level,’ she said. ‘Workers who learn how to direct fast AI, instead of compete with it, will be the most resilient.’ 

She also said that the majority of marketing jobs appear safe for now. Instead, she argued that AI is helping make faster editorial decisions rather than replacing employees.  

But Americans have already started to see the work of some robot marketers. 

This year, Coca-Cola’s iconic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ ad campaign — featuring snowy landscapes, big red trucks, twinkling holiday lights, and polar bears — was crafted by AI. 

The soda company generated the ad with robots again this year. 

Other giant companies like McDonald’s, Amazon, Heinz, BMW, Nike, Adobe, Salesforce, Starbucks, Nutella, and Svedka have also produced AI-generated video ads.