StackAdapt, the leading AI advertising and orchestration platform, today released The AI Delegation Gap, a global report examining how marketers are redefining decision-making in advertising as artificial intelligence becomes more deeply embedded across campaign workflows. The report introduces a new framework that maps where marketers are comfortable allowing AI to recommend, prepare, optimize and act, and where human oversight remains essential.
Based on a survey of 500 marketing and advertising professionals across North America, EMEA and APAC, supplemented by insights from 187 StackAdapt customers, the findings reveal a clear divide between AI recommendation and autonomous AI action in programmatic advertising.
Marketers are drawing new boundaries around AI decision-making in advertising. Ninety percent of respondents are comfortable with AI recommending actions and 89% support AI preparing actions for approval. Comfort declines to 78% when AI acts within human-defined rules and falls to 50% for autonomous AI, even when performance has been proven.
Organizations are under pressure to operationalize AI responsibly. Nearly eight in ten marketers at 79% feel pressure to increase AI usage, while 59% believe leadership expectations are ahead of their organization's readiness. Only 19% say their AI tools are fully integrated into marketing and advertising workflows, highlighting the gap between AI ambition and operational readiness.
AI adoption has become the industry standard. More than nine in ten marketers at 91% now use AI in marketing or advertising, while 88% report AI has improved marketing performance. Adoption is consistent across North America at 91%, EMEA at 90% and APAC at 92%, reinforcing that the industry has largely moved beyond experimentation and toward determining how AI should participate in decision-making.
Trust depends on transparency, context and control. Brand risk at 63%, data quality concerns at 56% and lack of transparency at 36% remain the biggest barriers to delegating greater authority to AI. Marketers are more likely to act on AI recommendations when they include clear explanations, connect directly to campaign goals and provide confidence that actions can be tested or reversed.
AI is becoming part of the decision workflow. Reporting and summaries at 77% and performance analysis at 74% are now the most common AI use cases. Rather than simply automating reporting, marketers increasingly want AI to identify risks, explain performance changes and recommend what to do next.
As AI takes on a larger role across advertising workflows, marketers continue to reserve the strongest human oversight for decisions that shape long-term business outcomes, including budget allocation, targeting strategy, creative messaging and brand direction. Increasingly, marketers are looking for AI that can explain its reasoning, operate within established guardrails and complement human expertise.
"The conversation around AI is shifting from how marketers use it to how much decision-making authority they're willing to give it," said Ryan Nelsen, Chief Marketing Officer at StackAdapt. "That's the AI Delegation Gap. As marketers build confidence in AI, they're gaining a clearer understanding of where it creates value and where human judgment remains essential. How those responsibilities are divided will shape the next generation of advertising."
The report identifies six foundational elements for responsible AI delegation: context, transparency, control, testability, accountability and connected infrastructure. Together, these principles provide a roadmap for expanding AI's role in advertising while preserving the governance and oversight marketers expect.
"Organizations that succeed with AI won't be the ones that automate the most," added Nelsen. "They'll be the ones that define clear decision boundaries, governance and accountability as AI takes on greater authority across advertising workflows."
About StackAdapt
StackAdapt is the leading AI advertising and orchestration platform marketers rely on to drive brand growth and revenue. Built entirely in-house with an easy-to-use interface, StackAdapt unifies programmatic and owned channels—including CTV, DOOH, display, native, audio, email, and more—into one seamless experience. The platform makes it easy to find the right audience, personalize creative, run campaigns, optimize, and measure results in one place. Trusted by the most forward-thinking brands and agencies, StackAdapt combines speed of innovation, deep vertical expertise, and partnership that powers real business growth.
