The company commissioned Morning Consult to survey marketers and creatives from the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, India, and Australia, to understand how AI is transforming their organisations and their roles.

The top findings specific to the UK include:

• Generative AI is fast becoming a fixture in the modern workplace. 98% of marketing and creative leaders are comfortable with the rise of generative AI, with over three-quarters (75%) already considering it an essential part of their creative toolkit.
• AI is unlocking productivity and elevating creativity. The majority (84%) agree that AI-powered tools reduce the minutia of repetitive tasks, freeing them up to focus on the more creative and exciting parts of their role. 70% say generative AI tools are enhancing their team's creativity, and 65% say the tools are saving them at least 2-3 hours per week. Just shy of a third (28%) of teams are saving between 4-5 hours per week on creative projects. Of the minority (14%) who feel generative AI tools are limiting their team’s creativity, the most common objection (41%) was preventing the development of original ideas.
• The AI ecosystem is fragmented and complex. More than two-thirds (67%) believe there are already too many generative AI tools, with 59% overwhelmed by the learning curve. While most are excited about the opportunities to elevate creativity, 48% feel pressured to use it to keep pace with change and 39% say they don’t know how to get the most value out of the technology.
• Generative AI is transforming the content creation process. With marketers and creatives tasked with creating huge volumes of content, many are turning to AI for assistance. The majority (85%) have used generative AI to create written content, generate unique images (83%) or edit images and videos (84%). Looking 5 years ahead, over half (52%) believe generative AI tools will be better than humans at creating visual images.
• Concerns about data privacy persist. The ability of generative AI tools to process data and generate sensitive information has raised some concerns. The majority ranked customer data (79%), personal data (78%) and company data (77%) risks as their top concerns, over job loss, plagiarism, and bias. Organisations are addressing these risks, with more than half (55%) saying their company has established strict guidelines for the use of generative AI.

Duncan Clark, Europe Lead at Canva, said, “Marketers are discovering that harnessing generative AI tools enhances their creativity and productivity, and helps their teams manage high content demands and tight deadlines. Our research shows that AI is helping marketing and creative professionals elevate their craft and unlock new realms of creativity – an impact we’re seeing firsthand as the all-in-one visual communications platform.”