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Are you feeling AI-nxious? If you’re in the C-suite, you might be.
That’s according to a new IDC InfoBrief report, commissioned by managed service provider Expereo. A little under half of all respondents across the US, UK, Europe, and APAC regions—40%—say that the CIO role may be endangered because of a rise in the chief AI officer (CAIO) role. US respondents, notably, were less concerned: only 28% reported concern on the topic.
Jean-Philippe Avelange, Expereo’s CIO, told IT Brew that the broader context of the CIO concerns come from how respondents were taken a bit by surprise by the widespread adoption of AI technology. That’s not a bad thing, he added, but it is something that requires recalibration.
“I personally believe that there will be, for the long run, still a number of topics that the CIO office will need to take care of, and AI will not replace all these tomorrow,” Avelange said. “I think it’s a complementary role, more than a replacement.”
Things we said today. But the C-suite worries were part of an overall unease among tech industry workers about the expansion of technological change in their industries. Globally, 64% of respondents said they were stressed about their business’s technology demands, with 47% saying their company boards had unrealistic expectations with regard to AI.
As IT Brew has reported, boards can often get overly excited about the efficiency potential of new technologies and put unrealistic expectations in place for how they are deployed. The Cyber Savvy Boardroom co-author Shamla Naidoo told us in July that businesses “don’t create business value unless you figure out ways to adopt the innovation, to leverage the emerging technologies. And early adopters have seen that they actually get the biggest benefits.”
“So, you’re looking at a very different risk landscape where, as board directors, we’re now expected to take far more risks than we did, because you’re having to support these emerging technologies and the adoption of those—and that creates a whole new challenge,” she said.
Revolution number nine. Avelange said he understands the frustration. AI is no different, coming as a major upheaval for the tech sector with seemingly limitless possibility—which has translated into stress at companies.
“In a sense, I think there is a disproportionate excitement and, maybe, a misappreciation of the timelines and the effort that it takes to put the team in place to start discovering and really validating and testing,” Avelange said. “But at the same time, I think it is a good thing that we are talking about it, it’s got everyone back on their toes and thinking, ‘Okay, we cannot miss that change at that revolution.’”