Markup AI’s Research Exposes Urgency for Better Guardrails on AI-Generated Content

• 99% of C-suite leaders said that dedicated content guardrails to manage AI-generated content would be valuable.
• 92% of organizations report using much more AI for content creation in the last year.
• 97% of organizations believe that AI models can self-check, but 80% of organizations still conduct manual reviews or spot checks.
• 88% of leaders say their organization has an AI mandate.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Markup AI today released its inaugural report, “The AI Trust Gap: Why Every Enterprise Needs Content Guardrails.” The report reveals a growing disparity between how organizations perceive AI-generated content quality and the reality of it, emphasizing the need for better content guardrails across enterprises.

The landmark report demonstrates a clear need for AI-powered content guardrails, as organizations are placing undue trust in AI content creation tools and forgoing the implementation of proper controls, risking loss of brand reputation and revenue.

According to Matt Blumberg, CEO of Markup AI, the next wave of enterprise AI won’t be about creation — it’ll be about control:

"AI writes faster than any human, but it still needs one to check its work. 83% of companies are stuck reviewing AI output manually, because they don’t trust the output. Until that changes, manual review will remain the biggest brake on AI scale. The future of AI isn’t creating more — it’s trusting what’s created."

Some of the top trends observed in Markup AI’s report include:

AI content is outpacing human oversight

AI is now integrated throughout every step in the content creation journey. Some organizations have adopted the technology in response to leadership mandates, while others seek to capitalize on its promise of efficiency. Either way, it’s resulting in a surge in AI-generated content.

• 88% of leaders say their organization has an AI mandate.
• 92% of organizations report using AI more for content than last year.
• On average, half (50.4%) of enterprise content now involves generative AI in some capacity.
• 79% admit to using multiple LLMs or unapproved AI tools, fragmenting governance and introducing unseen risk.

The AI Trust Gap: Perception vs. Practice

There’s a significant disconnect between perception and practice, with expectations on generative AI capabilities not aligning with how it’s being deployed. Despite advances in generative AI, leaders’ actions show they know that AI isn’t yet trustworthy as its own editor.

• 45% of marketers think AI models can check their own work.
• 80% still rely on manual review or spot checks to verify AI output.
• Only 33% view their organization’s AI guardrails for content creation as strong and consistently applied across all AI-generated content.

Unchecked AI output isn’t just holding back productivity. It also poses risk to businesses’ bottom lines. 57% report that their organizations face a moderate to high risk from unsafe AI-generated content today.

When asked what risks they worry about most from AI-generated content, leaders ranked regulatory violations (51%), intellectual property and copyright issues (47%), inaccurate or misleading information (46%), and brand misalignment or tone inconsistency (41%) as the top areas of concern.

A clear need for additional content guardrails

AI enables speed and scale that outpace the possibility for manual review, creating an urgent need for Content Guardian Agents℠ that let teams generate, review, and publish content with a higher level of confidence. Overreliance on manual processes to check content threatens the ability to scale creation, undermining the very efficiencies that AI was supposed to deliver.

C-Suite and marketing leaders are 100% in agreement that content is critical to achieving business goals, and 99% say a dedicated content guardian would be valuable. To meet those goals, enterprises must build trust and scalability — and that starts with putting the right guardrails in place.

Read more findings in Markup AI’s “The AI Trust Gap: Why Every Enterprise Needs Content Guardrails” here: https://markup.ai/the-ai-trust-gap-report/

Methodology:
Markup AI commissioned the survey from Regina Corso Consulting. It is based on feedback from 266 respondents, including 135 marketing/brand leaders and 131 members of the C-Suite. All respondents work in a firm with at least 500 employees, are decision makers when it comes to purchases and say their organization is a tech-focused or tech-forward company. Survey conducted online between September 11 and 19, 2025.

About Markup AI:
AI creates content, but Markup AI’s Content Guardian Agents^SM perfect your content. Our API- and MCP-first solution delivers content guardrails directly where your content lives. Markup AI instantly scans, scores, and rewrites any content to enforce your standards for brand voice, terminology, and compliance. Markup AI gives you the confidence you need to scale your use of AI.