Tech and startup marketers lead in AI adoption and possess advanced AI maturity
In tech and startup companies, marketers are using AI with a clarity of purpose we don’t see elsewhere. It’s no longer experimental or optional, it’s foundational. According to a 2025 study by Talker Research, 97% of marketers in these sectors use AI in their day-to-day work. That’s not a majority, it’s nearly everyone. Even more telling, 86% are applying AI directly in at least one marketing activity, which outpaces the broader industry by four percentage points. These aren’t minor improvements. These are directional shifts.
What’s interesting is that it’s not just about using AI; it’s how it’s being used. Within this group, 31% identify as advanced users and 19% call themselves expert users. Compared to 26% and 15%, respectively, across all marketers, this tells you something important: these professionals have moved AI from tool to strategy. It’s embedded in workflows, decision-making, campaign planning, customer engagement, every layer. That level of maturity changes the outcome.
This is how dominance in a market is quietly built. High AI maturity isn’t just about speed or scale, it’s about reach, consistency, and performance. These marketers aren’t trying AI. They’re fluent in it.
Now, if you’re running a company right now and you’re not seeing similar numbers, you already know the implication. AI maturity won’t remain a tech/startup luxury for long. Waiting means falling behind. Leading means embedding AI everywhere it adds leverage, and doing it before the next wave makes that optionality irrelevant.
Tech marketers are making that shift ahead of everyone else, and they’re winning by getting there first.
No fluke. Just clear execution.
AI power users in tech and startup sectors drive higher quality and comprehensive integration
In the tech and startup world, AI isn’t just getting used, it’s being optimized. The marketers who are furthest ahead aren’t just checking boxes. They’re Power Users. And they’re telling us something important: the more they work with AI, the more confident they are in the results they’re producing. That’s not speculation, it’s backed by data. In the 2025 Talker Research survey, 90% of tech and startup Power Users said their confidence improves the more they integrate AI into their tasks.
These marketers aren’t dipping into AI occasionally. They’re building it into almost everything. Among Power Users in tech and startups, 94% use AI for at least one marketing activity. More than a third, 33%—have full integration across all three major activity areas surveyed. That tops the broader Power User category, which comes in at 89% and 29%, respectively. That difference might look small, but it compounds fast when applied across teams, quarters, and campaigns.
What’s going on here is simple. High-frequency usage leads to deeper understanding. Integration becomes instinctive. The work improves. The loop feeds itself. But none of that happens without deliberate action, dedicated training, structured experimentation, and leadership support for embedding AI into workflows.
If your organization isn’t supporting this kind of usage now, you’re not getting full value from the tools. You’ve got technology sitting idle or used in tactical bursts when it should be part of strategic operations. The teams getting this right are moving faster, learning more, and building stronger systems. And it’s visible not only in output quality but also in team confidence and speed of execution.
Real capability doesn’t come from having tools, it comes from using them expertly. That’s the difference Power Users in tech are demonstrating.
There is a reluctance to publicly disclose AI usage despite largely positive public perceptions
Despite high adoption rates, many tech and startup marketers remain hesitant to openly share how and where they use AI. The concern is mostly about perception, how stakeholders might respond if they knew AI was playing a central role in producing content or driving campaigns. But the numbers reflect a different reality. According to the 2025 Talker Research survey, only 37% of all marketers are transparent about their AI usage. Among tech marketers, it’s higher, 51%—but that still leaves nearly half keeping usage under wraps.
What’s more telling is the public reaction to those who do disclose. Of the tech and startup marketers who are open about using AI, 85% report that the response has been positive. This clearly undercuts the idea that audiences or clients will penalize AI usage. In fact, in many cases, transparency can build trust and reinforce a brand’s forward-thinking identity. The reluctance to disclose may be more about outdated assumptions than actual risk.
For executive teams, this is a branding opportunity being left on the table. You’re already investing in AI tools, talent, and infrastructure. If you’re delivering better results through those systems, hiding it doesn’t add value. Especially when the public is reacting positively to companies that are ahead of the curve.
The companies that will win long-term understand this. They frame AI not as a gimmick, but as part of their core capability. They’re not just doing the work, they’re owning how it gets done. Too much internal success with AI is being kept invisible. Transparency here isn’t risky, it’s efficient. It simplifies messaging and demonstrates leadership in the space.
If you’re using the tools, show the work. The results will speak louder when people understand what’s behind them.
Accelerating team-wide AI integration is essential for maintaining future competitiveness
Adoption isn’t enough anymore. AI is moving fast, and companies that stop at early usage levels are already behind the curve. Tech and startup marketers are showing us what advanced adoption looks like, broad integration, high frequency, and team-wide capability. They’re not experimenting, they’re operationalizing. For everyone else, that gap is growing.
The latest data from Talker Research (2025) reinforces this. While AI adoption in tech and startup marketing is effectively universal, 97% overall usage, and 86% applying it to at least one marketing activity, the broader marketing field is still catching up. The difference isn’t just tools; it’s behavior. Mature teams are building infrastructure around AI. They’re training up. They’re embedding it in workflows and shifting decision-making around what the tools can now enable.
This matters for more than productivity. It determines competitiveness. AI tools are improving rapidly. Sitting at a basic level of adoption means you’re interacting with these tools in a shallow way. It creates inefficiencies. It slows down insight generation. And it stalls your ability to execute campaigns or products at the speed the market now expects.
If you’re serious about leveraging AI, you can’t afford to isolate it to one or two functions. It needs to be scaled across departments. That starts with skill development, training teams not just on how to use AI but how to extract value from it in the context of what they’re already doing. Beyond that, systems need to be redesigned to support this usage. That’s what maturity looks like.
The companies that build this now will keep the advantage later. The ones that delay will have to catch up under pressure while the gap gets wider. The decision is whether to drive the transformation or absorb its impact later at higher costs. The direction is obvious.
Key highlights
- Tech marketers lead AI adoption and maturity: Tech and startup marketers have reached full AI adoption, with 97% using it for work and 86% applying it to marketing functions. Leaders should benchmark against this maturity to identify gaps and accelerate AI fluency across teams.
- Power users drive confidence and deeper AI integration: Frequent use of AI tools correlates with higher confidence and broader adoption. Executives should invest in focused upskilling and workflow integration to unlock more impactful, system-wide AI use.
- Transparency boosts competitive positioning: Only 51% of tech marketers disclose AI usage, despite 85% of those reporting positive public response. Leaders should reconsider AI transparency strategies to strengthen brand credibility and innovation leadership.
- Scaling AI across teams is now a strategic imperative: Basic adoption is no longer sufficient in an evolving AI ecosystem. To maintain competitiveness, leaders must push team-wide maturity through training, process redesign, and aligned execution.
