- Three quarters of companies now have CAIOs, up from one quarter
- After the redirection of the C package, middle managers are now a major focus
- Workers also need upskilling and retraining
A new survey of 2,000 global CEOs by IBM has argued that AI is forcing companies to redesign their C-suite structures, decision-making processes and general operating models as businesses become increasingly automated.
By 2025, only a quarter (26%) of the companies surveyed had Chief AI Officers (CAIOs), but this year that has reversed, with three quarters (76%) now claiming to have a CAIO in place.
As a result, those with an AI-first C-suite structure are said to have scaled 10% more AI initiatives than their counterparts, suggesting that top-down leadership plays an influential role in how successful a company is with its AI strategy.
Chief AI Officers and other AI roles are critical to AI success
However, redirecting leadership is simple compared to driving enterprise-wide adoption. Currently, it is believed that only 25% of employees currently use AI regularly at work, although 86% of CEOs believe that staff already have the right skills to bring AI into their workflows.
The next step after a C-suite shakeup is for middle managers to become technology experts in their own fields, 85% of CEOs believe.
However, it has taken years of artificial intelligence being in the spotlight for companies to make the relevant changes at the top so that organization-wide transformations could be far more extensive. CHROs are likely to play a bigger role in the coming years as workforce shifts unfold – between 2026 and 2028, 29% of employees are expected to need retraining for different roles, and 53% are expected to need upskilling for their existing roles.
As for AI itself, CEOs predict that AI will make nearly half (48%) of operational decisions autonomously by 2030.
“The CEOs who deliver real results from AI transformation are not just deploying AI faster, they are redesigning their organizations to bring together the best people with the best technology,” concluded IBM Consulting SVP Mohamad Ali.
IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn acknowledged that while CEOs have always been tasked with “leading[ing] through disruption,” AI has increased “the speed and consequences of leadership.”
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
