The acceleration of artificial intelligence adoption in the enterprise space has created the chief artificial intelligence officer¹ position to handle increasing roles. Companies see the chief technology officer as the person responsible for all technology solutions, but the reality is that AI deployment² commands time and requires a dedicated leader to coordinate with the C-suite. AI and its impact on enterprises dictates that artificial intelligence is an essential component of strategy that every business needs. The focus for those leading AI is to help organizations utilize these systems for enhancing existing business operations and AI powered³ products. This is where the chief AI officer steps in.

Arguments about the CAIO Role

Some argue that CAIOs remain uncommon and unnecessary for most businesses at this point in time. Accordingly, there are currently very few CAIOs and that most companies do not need one.

The traditional roles of a chief digital officer⁴ or chief information officer makes the CAIO role appear unfit for most organizations. For instance, the CTO handles all things technology portfolio of a company and some see the AI role as falling under the duties of the CTO.

Why the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer?

Let us explore some reasons why organizations need a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer:

1. Innovation and Ideas

Here is one truth: Companies have the best AI teams but still end up struggling to make the most out of this amazing technology. Because, in most of the cases, the C-suite⁵ fail to understand some of the best ideas pitched by the team and never get to see the light of the day. Therefore, many companies have today started to see the sheer need of CAIOs. A CAIO understands #artificialintelligence, and when a new idea is pitched, the response is always relevant.

2. Team Development

Building a team is one challenging task for any organization. If you want to stay on top of your team- building game, you have to make sure that you have people with all the expertise. In addition, when it comes to building a team dedicated to the company’s artificial intelligence domain⁶, a CAIO is the perfect fit.

When the CAIO handles a department, he is more familiar with all the voids that need to be filled. Accordingly, the CAIO knows what technical expertise a candidate should have to be a part of the company’s AI team. Having a CAIO makes the hiring strategy more effective.

3. Advancing AI Ethics

Just because a company is leveraging AI, that does not mean, it would apply it on every single product and vertical. What is much more critical than that is how it handles #data. A company with a CAIO makes much better use of AI and ensures the company takes AI ethics⁷ seriously.

4. Digital Transformation Initiatives

AI is a critical part of enterprise digital transformation goals and with a CAIO at the helm, the company via the c-suite implements operations smoothly. A CAIO helps an organization understand ways how that data can be used. While many companies rely on traditional methods and strategies, a company with a CAIO figure out the latest and the most advanced ways to accurately deliver results using the data⁸.

Having immense knowledge about the data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence domain, a CAIO comes up with strategies that marry the analytical and business skills required to make the most out of cluttered data.

A CAIO enables a company to comprehend ways how that information can be utilized. While numerous companies depend on customary techniques and systems, a company with a CAIO make sense of the most recent and the most progressive approaches to precisely convey results utilizing the data.

Having tremendous knowledge about the data science, AI and machine learning space, a #CAIO creates procedures that marry the business and analytics skills required to make the most out of cluttered data.

Chief Technology Officer vs. Chief AI Officer

One of the confusions individuals have is that the CTO and CIO of an organization should know the stray pieces of each and every innovation. In any case, that is not valid for each situation. An extraordinary CTO and CIO realize how to have a solid #IT foundation⁹, how to use the best of the product, and if they do not know inside and out about AI, that is adequate because the AI domain is huge.

Also, thus the requirement for CAIO. A chief AI officer must be somebody who has an inside and out information of the AI domain and is updated with the most recent patterns.

Duties of a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer

The following are some duties of the CAIO in enterprises:

– Layout the AI projects including project initiation, analysis stage and model retraining. Make sure the project deployment governance on a continuous basis

-Choosing technologies and related guide map for improvement, testing, deployment of AI models.

– Set up the plan and administer the usage of deployment systems of #ML models

– Set up the plan and supervise the execution of ML pipeline automation to be utilized for testing across various AI projects

-Distinguish AI tasks of high business impact including both product projects related ventures, and research projects.

Companies need a CAIO role now more than ever

Enterprises are turning to Chief AI Officers in their quest to implement AI related projects and become competitive in this era of #digitaltransformation.

Regardless of the arguments about the CAIO role advanced, the truth is clear: Companies a CAIO in their operations as this will streamline workflows and enable them harness the benefits of this technology.

AI should influence the c-suite to rethink the entire model of operations. The CAIO will need to be a true agent of change and to advise the leadership team on strategy.

Works Cited

¹Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, ²AI Deployment, ³AI powered, ⁴Chief Digital Officer, ⁵The C-suite, ⁶Artificial Intelligence Domain, ⁷AI Ethics, ⁸Data, ⁹IT foundation