{"id":370229,"date":"2025-06-27T11:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefexecutive.net\/?p=370229"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:33:12","slug":"do-you-need-a-chief-ai-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefexecutive.net\/do-you-need-a-chief-ai-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Need A Chief AI Officer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine it\u2019s 1997 and your company is deciding whether it needs an internet strategy. That\u2019s sort of where we are with gen AI today. Except with one big difference. In the early days of the web, a non-technical business leader would not be able to just speak a website into existence; nor would your internet strategy be anywhere near the minds of your CHRO as a potential workflow transformation process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrival and speed of development of today\u2019s AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and the like require a different approach than prior tech waves when it comes to adoption, leverage and scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our client work and research, we kept seeing the same pattern: Organized thinking about applying gen AI is scattered across departments, often treated like an IT project or just doesn\u2019t exist. Without a senior leader owning that transformation, the organization will have a tough time keeping up, doing the right kinds of experimentation, and the work never has the right footing to take hold and propel the organization to another level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a leadership moment and opportunity for the CEO of a company. Just the act of naming a single person to lead a proper, organized process for transforming a company into an AI first organization shows a mindset and sets the tone for the rest of the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a one-size-fits-all recommendation. Not every company needs a literal \u201cCAIO\u201d today. But if you are serious about becoming \u201cAI First,\u201d someone must be empowered to drive the vision, prioritize opportunities, and lead an AI council to ensure ethical, scalable implementation. That\u2019s what a dedicated \u201cAI leader\u201d can do.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question of whether companies and organizations should be creating a new position for a chief AI officer is complicated by the fact that this is so new and is moving so fast that you \u00addon\u2019t want to get delayed and distracted by what would likely be a multi-month \u00adprocess to scope out and bring in an AI leader. We have seen this movie play out too many times; where a com\u00adpany needs a functional overhaul but wants to wait \u00aduntil just the right leader is in place, and thereby loses months of time and opportunity costs. In the case of a chief AI officer, if you have done the requisite education and training of the members of an AI council, and that council has a chairperson, then you have at least an acting chief AI officer in that chairperson, for starters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, for the chair of the AI council (or AI champions team) or the like, what does your first 100 days on the job look like? For starters, if you are like Brice Challamel (Moderna\u2019s VP of AI products and platform), you run your own transformational playbook around listening tours, understanding deeply the goals, challenges and structural issues around \u00adevery single department of the company; and from \u00adthere develop a robust program for rolling out AI education and engagement to the \u00adwhole com\u00adpany, leading to a champions team and the cataloging of use cases. But for most new AI officers (\u00adwhether chief AI officer or chair of the AI council), the first 100 days is likely \u00adgoing to be a bit more tactical and should have the following goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n