
'60 Leaders' is an initiative that brings together diverse views from global thought leaders on a series of topics – from innovation and artificial intelligence to social media and democracy. It is created and distributed on principles of open collaboration and knowledge sharing. Created by many, offered to all.
ABOUT 60 LEADERS
'60 Leaders on Artificial Intelligence' brings together unique insights on the topic of Artificial Intelligence - from the latest technical advances to ethical concerns and risks for humanity. The book is organized into 17 chapters - each addressing one question through multiple answers reflecting a variety of backgrounds and standpoints. Learn how AI is changing how businesses operate, how products are built, and how companies should adapt to the new reality. Understand the risks of AI and what should be done to protect individuals and humanity. View the leaders.
'60 Leaders on Innovation' is the book that brings together unique insights and ‘practical wisdom’ on innovation. The book is organized into 22 chapters, each presenting one question and multiple answers from 60 global leaders. Learn how innovative companies operate and how to adopt effective innovation strategies. Understand how innovation and experimentation methods blend with agile product development. Get insights from the experts on the role of the C-Suite for innovation. Discover ways that Innovation can help humanity solve big problems like climate change.
Do companies need a Chief AI Officer?
Sunil Kumar
Q.
AI is going to transform every industry, beyond the software sector, and contribute to GDP growth. I strongly believe that companies need a Chief AI Officer, a role that should be reporting to the CTO or the CEO directly. As AI is impacting Digital Transformation, roles like Chief Analytics/Digital/Information/Data Officer may evolve or transform into this new, crucial role, leading the company’s data and AI transformation: the Chief AI Officer (CAIO).
The CAIO is responsible for driving the AI roadmap of the organization, handling the AI infrastructure, designing the development and deployment strategies, and establishing a framework for ethical and trusted AI. The CAIO should be technically strong e.g. able to understand how to build AI business models or platforms, how to design end-to-end data science pipelines for development and deployment, and, in general, be on top of the technological advancements in AI. The CAIO is also responsible for designing the technical stack and understanding how AI can become an internal part of the products/services of the organization. He/she should come up with optimal AI infrastructure by partnering with cloud AIaaS providers and specialized companies. Moreover, as AI is going to play a vital role in upcoming digital technologies such as edge devices, web 3.0, and the metaverse, the CAIO must be able to come up with innovative use cases in the context of these emerging technologies.
In parallel, this role requires strong business acumen, and the ability to bring alignment among stakeholders and drive results. The CAIO is not isolated - a successful CAIO understands deeply how AI is linked with the software, product development, and data organizations within the company, and demonstrates strong stakeholder management skills, with both internal business units and external customers.
The CAIO should be the agent of change - checking the AI maturity of the organization in terms of strategy, data, technology, and operations and coming up with the right transformational steps. The CAIO should be able to drive Digital Transformation initiatives, explain how to use AI for Intelligent Automation, and drive the definition of the data-driven AI strategy for the business units in alignment with the organization’s vision.
To achieve all the above, the CAIO needs to build a strong team, able to design and execute the data-driven AI strategy. This AI team will be responsible for the end-to-end development, deployment, and operationalization of AI models. Beyond the AI team, the CAIO must also empower other teams in the organization to understand the value of AI for their business. Finally, an important responsibility of the CAIO is to ensure that AI meets ethical and privacy requirements according to policies such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).
"The CAIO should be the agent of change - checking the AI maturity of the organization in terms of strategy, data, technology, and operations and coming up with the right transformational steps."
Sunil Kumar is a global thought leader in AI, IoT, and Analytics; Director – Data science; Top 10 Data Scientist in India; ACM Distinguished Speaker; Inventor of 40+ patents, Visiting Professor, Fellow of IETE, IEI; Technical Role Model and IEEE Engineering Manager of the Year awards winner.
