Not having a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) doesn't mean you're outdated. Very few organizations have one today. According to a survey of technology leaders in our Digital Leadership Report, Pulse, only 5% of organizations have a CAIO today. An additional 7% plan to appoint one. So while roughly 1 in 10 companies expect to have a CAIO in the near future, 85% of organizations say it's not in their plans.
Yes, large tech companies have appointed CAIOs. The US government has mandated that federal agencies appoint CAIOs. A small number of CAIOs are beginning to emerge in certain sectors, or at AI-focused startups and scaleups with AI at their core. But overall, we are still in the very early stages, and for most companies the concept of a CAIO is more of an interest topic than an active agenda item.
But I don't expect that to continue. As AI capabilities continue to grow, more and more organizations will feel the need to appoint someone who can lead and drive a coherent AI strategy that is aligned with their business strategy. The rise of the CAIO could accelerate, especially if there are breakthroughs in specific use cases for AI.
Is there a business case?
The business case for a CAIO will vary, but should centre around the potential for AI to generate tangible commercial and business benefits, such as measurable operational efficiencies, enhanced products/services, increased staff productivity, and improved customer experience and engagement. This will depend heavily on how data-driven the business is; the more data a business generates, collects and leverages, the greater the potential for AI. Data maturity is an important consideration; if an organisation does not have a mature data management framework, then AI initiatives may be premature.
This may also be the case in organizations with large technical teams and multiple concurrent work programs. In this case, the CAIO can be the bridge between AI activities, other technical programs, and the business strategy. By working closely with other senior technical leaders, the CAIO can guide AI efforts in a way that aligns and integrates with other key initiatives. In smaller technical teams, there may not be enough AI work to require a CAIO, and an existing senior person (such as a chief data officer) is more likely to ensure alignment of work programs.
There are a few sectors where we see the most potential for CAIO adoption. Technology itself is a prime candidate, from big tech companies to startups and scaleups with big ideas. Other sectors include financial services and telecommunications, which have large volumes of data and high data maturity. And retail is also a candidate, given the amount of data generated through customer purchases and interactions.
Legal practice is another area with great potential, where AI can play a powerful role in the discovery process for evidence collection and presentation, as well as case management. Healthcare is another promising area, given the huge potential of AI in areas such as medical image analysis/diagnosis and personalized treatment planning.
Innovation Champion
A key objective of CAIO is to move AI activities from merely experimenting with a set of clever tools to a clear, measurable, business-driven strategy, which may include creating a company-wide AI policy with risk management guidelines for usage, privacy/security issues, and authorization protocols.
More broadly, the CAIO acts as a catalyst for innovation. Their mere presence drives focused, coordinated efforts around AI to find new use cases and applications within the business and innovate how things are done. It's a chicken-and-egg thing, but companies with CAIOs are more likely to innovate with AI and find ways to create competitive advantage.
Skill Sets and Seniority
Who can be a CAIO? Someone who is extremely technically savvy, often with a background in data. They have a computer science degree or equivalent, a proven track record in data analytics and/or machine learning, experience leading a team, and may already be a Chief Data Officer. They are intellectually curious, well-rounded, have real business acumen, and are passionate about technology itself.
The CAIO will likely be at the second level of technology leadership, one step below the CIO or CTO, perhaps equivalent to a Chief Data Officer. In some cases, these two roles may be combined to create a CDAIO (as we are already seeing).
Will it last?
The CAIO role may be temporary – to tie AI to the business strategy, establish the right capabilities, mechanisms and controls for AI to thrive, and then fade away once that is achieved. AI ownership and management will be distributed across the tech team as simply part of the way of working. A lot will depend on where AI takes us. In that sense, it is technology, not humans, that will decide whether we need a CAIO. But in my view, CAIOs will steadily increase. If AI starts to work as expected, CAIO growth may be faster than ever before. AI is opening up new worlds and business possibilities. We need new leaders to lead us through them.
Helen Fleming, executive director of search and specialisation, Harvey Nash, a Nash Squared company
Image credit: Vithun Khamsong via Getty Images
