Spring is here, and with it, a flood of AI in marketing news. In March, OpenAI announced Sora’s shutdown, a new study revealed a growing gap between AI-intent brands and consumers, Grammarly fell under legal fire and a Google marketing VP left her 9-year product marketing position for another familiar face where AI integration is growing.
Here’s your March AI in Marketing roundup.
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OpenAI Shut Down Video Generation App Sora
OpenAI is shutting down Sora, its AI video-generation tool, just six months after launching it as a standalone app. On March 24, 2026, @soraofficialapp shared the following on X:
We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.
— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026
We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on…
The news of OpenAI’s shuttering of Sora was a surprise to many … and not-so-surprising to others who felt it was only a matter of time until higher-quality tools won the favor of AI-video enthusiasts. But Disney was perhaps the most blindsided by the announcement, as they had recently signed a one-billion-dollar licensing deal with OpenAI and Sora, handing over beloved character IP in the process.
Reasons seem many for the shutdown, including failing to turn a profit and being “eclipsed by competitors.”
Users have until April 26, 2026, to access the Sora web app, and until September 24, 2026, to use the API, according to an official statement from OpenAI.
A New Survey Revealed an AI Trust Gap Between Brands & Consumers
A new “AI Perception Gap” study revealed a growing disconnect between marketers and their audiences: While more than 80% of marketers believe AI is improving customer experiences, fewer than half (42%) of consumers agree.
Consumers are becoming more and more frustrated with how brands are using AI, pointing to things like clunky interactions, lack of transparency and a sense that automation is replacing, rather than supporting, their purchase-decision-making processes.
Perhaps not surprisingly, trust is significantly higher in B2B contexts, suggesting familiarity and use case clarity play a major role in acceptance.
It seems as though, at least from a B2C perspective, a recalibration is needed to close the gap. Consumers want AI to support, not replace, their decision-making. That means B2C marketers should switch their mindsets from efficiency to a trust-first approach, prioritizing transparency, ethical use and human-AI collaboration instead of pushing AI deeper into every touchpoint, according to the survey.
This begs a question every marketer should be asking themselves: Where does AI genuinely improve the customer experience?
The Grammarly Expert Review Lawsuit
Maybe one of the more scandalous bits of news to break in March was the rapidly cascading case of Superhuman and Grammarly’s Expert Review feature.
We covered this in depth on the blog if you want to catch up on what happened with Grammarly, but here’s a quick overview for anyone learning about this for the first time:
- Grammarly introduced a new AI writing advice feature called Expert Review, which effectively posed as advice from real writers and scholars — dead or alive.
- It was quickly met with backlash, leading Grammarly to deactivate Expert Review.
- Author Julia Anguin set a class action lawsuit in motion for using her name for commercial purposes without consent.
At the time of this writing, a quick search revealed no apparent progress on the lawsuit just yet, but I imagine things are well underway and we’ll know more soon.
Apple Hires Google Veteran for AI Product Marketing
Lilian Rincon, a 9-year Google product marketing veteran and VP, recently left her position at the search engine for one of equal stature at Apple with a focus on the phonemaker’s global AI experiences:
In her new role, Rincon will lead product marketing for both Apple Intelligence and Siri, according to 9to5Mac.
Earlier this year, Apple made public its plans to open Siri to outside (and competing) AI models, like Gemini and Claude, which Rincon will no doubt have some stake in throughout the year. Apple users can already access ChatGPT with Siri, but other AI tool integrations are likely coming down the pipeline as Apple works to make chatbot apps installed via the App Store Siri-compatible.
Final Thoughts
March was ripe with new big revelations and growth opportunities. From product shakeups and legal scrutiny to shifting consumer sentiment, the conversation is evolving beyond what AI can do to what it should be doing. Pertinently, the American Marketing Association survey reminded B2C marketers to slow down and recenter sights on consumer preferences rather than AI algorithms.
Throughout the rest of this year, I think (hope) that the real differentiator will shift from how much AI brands use to how thoughtfully they use it. This month’s update is a great reminder to re-prioritize trust, transparency and real value over novelty.
