A Chief AI Officer: What’s the Role?
Is this new position destined to disappear once AI is fully integrated into the company, or will it become a permanent fixture? Who is best suited for the role? Here are our insights.
Already 1,900 results on LinkedIn this February for a search on the title “Chief AI Officer.” Sometimes, the role is 100% focused on AI, while in other cases, it is combined with positions like CTO (Chief Technical Officer) or Chief Data Officer.
At Artefact (a company specialized in data), the analysis went further. “We filtered LinkedIn’s global database within the retail sector and major brands (both B2C and B2B),” explains CEO Édouard de Mézerac. “We found that companies accelerating in generative AI (GAI) already have between 1% and 2% of executives with Data and AI profiles.
Another key takeaway: within this 1% to 2%, we believe that at least a third should be working on data governance. However, we are still far from that goal. Companies are not placing enough importance on these profiles on their ‘data store managers.’”
Data, always and forever Data
This is where generative AI (GAI) brings back an old challenge: a company’s ability to organize and leverage its own data. We’ve been talking about this for ten—(maybe fifteen years), with every new digital tool reviving the conversation. But this time, it feels like a “now or never” moment. No data, no AI. And that’s precisely why the Chief AI Officer role seems to be gaining traction.”This isn’t just another ‘Chief Digital Officer,'” says Édouard de Mézerac. “I don’t believe this role will disappear. On the contrary, it should be a cornerstone position, one that the CEO must drive or even embody himself.”
At Artefact, there’s no Chief AI Officer; the entire firm has been focused on Data and AI for the past decade.
“When clients ask whether they should hire a Chief AI Officer”, continues Édouard de Mézerac, “I always start by reminding them that all their competitors will have access to the same AI. Very few will develop their own foundational models! What will create value is the ability to apply AI to their own data. So yes, having a Chief AI Officer makes sense—but only if the role includes Data. Otherwise, it’s just marketing.”
This new role has many people to bring on board, starting with the executive committee, which typically consists of professionals aged 45 to 60 who have built their careers without ever having to think about Data and AI. “This is a new topic that must be driven at the highest level of the organization… and I even believe that the CEO should take on this role themselves or at least carefully select and empower the person they entrust with it,” continues Artefact’s CEO, Édouard de Mézerac.
“Shaking things up without creating too much technical debt”
Chief Digital Officers could be among the potential candidates, provided they have a strong tech background. For each use case, decisions will have to be made on which AI components to buy, how to assemble them, which partners to choose, and whether to collaborate with American or Chinese companies. “The Chief AI Officer is here to disrupt; they need to shake things up,” summarizes Édouard de Mézerac. “But they also need to deliver results fast. One of their biggest challenges will be moving quickly without creating too much technical debt.” By “technical debt,” he means temporary solutions that can become very costly, now that major generative AI players have entered “Money Time.” “Integrating a corporate ChatGPT is expensive. I advise the Chief AI Officer to work closely with IT teams. At some of our clients’ companies, we have grouped Data, AI, and Legacy IT under the CTO role.”
The Chief AI Officer is here to stay.
Your future Chief AI Officer, as we’ve seen, is neither a temporary position nor an external role: there is no such thing as a “transitional” Chief AI Officer. Rather than disappearing once AI has spread across all business units, this role is meant to establish itself over time.
Nicolas Gaudemet, who has held this position at Onepoint since March 2023, emphasizes that “AI is not a siloed function; it is a cross-functional one.” Upon joining, he started by drafting an AI roadmap: What AI choices should be made for each of the company’s strategic priorities? He launched several emblematic use cases, such as Néo, a conversational assistant used by the company’s 3,500 employees and now offered as a white-label solution. “Given our business, we had no choice but to roll up our sleeves and build a generative AI tool by assembling components based on our actual needs,” he explains. The biggest challenge in his day-to-day work? “The relentless pace! Things change every week. We are constantly being solicited. Announcements keep coming, and we have to stay on track, sorting out what truly matters from what doesn’t,” says the Chief AI Officer.
Édouard de Mézerac adds: “Don’t spend six months defining roles and responsibilities—don’t get lost in organizational details. Start working right away and limit the number of use cases: you’ll be presented with hundreds, but it’s up to you to select just one or two to begin with. Prioritization must be ruthless.”Finally, make sure to quickly launch upskilling and training initiatives: “There are undoubtedly skill gaps, and you’ll need Data Scientists, again and again, as well as Product Owners who understand both business needs and AI challenges.”
