Introducing The Virtual Chief AI Officer

Introducing The Virtual Chief AI Officer

What is a Chief AI Officer?

The chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) is an executive role focused on overseeing the development, strategy and implementation of AI technologies.

The CAIO is relatively new role that has emerged as a response to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in business strategy and operations. While many forward-thinking organizations have been exploring AI for over a decade, the release of ChatGPT and the subsequent explosion of interest in generative AI has made it clear that technology has moved on from being a relative niche to an essential element to business strategy and operations.

What is a Virtual CIAO?

Many organisations recognise the need to engage with AI but are not yet in a position to bring on a new member of the c-suite. In addition, the role of the CAIO will evolve rapidly as the business adopts AI, moving from a strategic “discovery” phase into an operational “implementation” phase. These are different skill sets and so many companies are opting to engage a “Virtual CAIO” to support the initial period of AI strategy development, stakeholder engagement, opportunity assessment and corporate buy-in. This role is typically paired with an existing c-suite executive (CIO, CTO or Chief Compliance Officer) for a period of 6-12 months, after which point the organisation may decide to bring on a full-time in- house executive.

What are the roles of the CAIO in the first year?

By definition, the role of the CAIO is exceptionally broad and multi-faceted. The CAIO plays a critical broad and multi-faceted. The CAIO plays a critical role in guiding the organization through the role in guiding the organization through the complexities of AI adoption, securing cross-complexities of AI adoption, securing cross-organisation buy-in from the Board to the organisation buy-in from the Board to the operational teams, building investment and ROI operational teams, building investment and ROI business cases and ensuring that AI technologies business cases and ensuring that AI technologies are used effectively and responsibly to encourage are used effectively and responsibly to encourage business growth and innovation. business growth and innovation.

01

Strategic Leadership

The CAIO spearheads the development of an AI strategy to align with the organiza:on’s broader digital transforma:on
roadmap and business goals. This involves iden:fying opportuni:es where AI can add value, such as enhancing customer experiences, crea:ng new revenue streams and improving opera:ng margins and developing a priori:sed, costed strategy for their delivery. The CAIO works closely with other execu:ves, departments and stakeholders to obtain buy-in and promote the use of AI to support, enhance and oDen to transform exis:ng business processes. Like the adop:on of the Internet as a core backbone to business opera:ons, so AI will be a series of specific projects that individually enhance the business and, over :me, underpin a move towards AI-based digital transforma:on.

02

Stakeholder

Like any neEwntegcahgnoelomgye, nitstadoption and use will be met with a mixture of excitement and concern. While AI may result in changes to certain roles, the principal objective of AI is to enhance employee capability, allowing them to be more effective, more productive and to spend a larger proportion of their time working on high value tasks rather than routine activities. This requires engagement with a wide range of stakeholders from senior management, to staff, investors, Government and even the press. The CAIO will work with colleagues to build this engagement framework and ensure the organisation adopts AI in a clear and consistent manner.

03

Ethics, Governance, and Compliance

While AI may appear to be just another digital technology, its use is very different to conventional software projects. AI has additional regulatory requirements and may exhibit unreliable behaviours if not correctly managed. Unlike software, simple functional testing is not enough – AI has to be designed to be robust from the outset. In addition, most AI solutions rely on external providers to some degree and so careful stakeholder management and contracting is essential. The CAIO also helps to ensure that AI applications comply with ethical standards and regulatory requirements. This involves establishing policies and frameworks for safe and responsible AI use, proper AI governance addressing risks and biases and promoting data privacy and security and processes for ongoing monitoring of AI implementations and the associated action plans.

04

Technology Oversight

At its core, AI sits at the junction between technology and business needs. AI technology is evolving at a rapid pace and often has to interface to existing legacy systems within the organisation. Designing a technical approach that enables internal systems to be connected easily to the AI but still allows for the AI implementation to evolve is critical to the success of a long-lived business approach.

05

Advocacy and Education

The CAIO is responsible for educating the rest of the organization and the broader community of external stakeholders on the company’s approach and vision for AI. The CAIO has an increasingly critical role as the spokesperson for all things related to AI, and today’s CAIOs frequently appear on podcasts and panels to elucidate the company’s position on AI- related issues.

Getting started with a Virtual CIAO

The list above demonstrates the breadth and depth of the CAIO role and its interaction with other teams in the business. While it is possible to create the “Office of the CIAO” with a team of domain experts, many companies find it faster, more convenient and more cost effective to take advantage of the existing skills in an existing provider to put in place the essentials of AI – strategy, policy, processes and governance. As this matures, so the organisation is then in a stronger position to identify the internal gaps in order to deliver the strategy and hire accordingly in a considered manner.

Such an engagement is organised into modules, each of which has specific deliverables and can be matched to the organisation’s internal capabilities. While the deliverables may be a presentation or report, the principal value is gained through close collaboration with the senior management team to help support the required evolution in the business in the AI era.