According to a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) study, over 15 percent of organisations in India are planning to appoint a CAIO by 2026.
Source: Freepik.com
Indian enterprises have one of the highest adoption rates of Artificial Intelligence (AI) globally, according to a recent study, as reported by PTI. However, weak data foundations and cyber risk continue to remain major roadblocks for smooth AI adoption, the report states.
Given the current adoption rates and the transformation potential that AI offers, coupled with the complexity it entails, it’s just a matter of time before enterprises will have a dedicated position for AI: enter Chief AI Officer (CAIO). Recently Motilal Oswal Financial Service (MOSF) selected Siddharth Sureka as the CAIO. Jindal Steel and Power has roped in former BharatPe Chief Data Officer (CDO) Ritesh Mohan Srivastava as the company’s CAIO; Mirae Asset Global Investments also appointed Nishant Pradhan as their maiden CAIO. Recently, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank hired Shameek Kundu as ‘Chief AI Officer’. Globally, GE Healthcare, UnitedHealth and few others have supposedly hired CAIO.
According to a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) study, over 15 percent of organisations in India are planning to appoint a CAIO by 2026. The study also finds that while CEOs, CTOs, and CIOs currently drive generative AI innovation, new leadership roles are emerging to address rising demands. Organisations prioritising Gen AI -- 64% in 2025 budgets, ahead of security (21%) and compute (10%) -- are appointing dedicated AI executives, creating top-level opportunities for AI-skilled talent.
The emergence of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) role is a response to the rapid growth and specialization of AI across industries. “So far, the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) was driving AI initiatives. AI is specialized and growing rapidly across industries and functions, it certainly needs dedicated attention. Hence, the birth of CAIO,” says Venator Search Partners, an executive search firm.
The groundwork to appoint CAIO
Before appointing a CAIO, companies should set the stage for the incoming AI specialist for infusing AI into the organisation, says Bombay Stock Exchange CIO Subhash Kelkar, “The companies should immediately begin the groundwork to appoint the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO). Accordingly a certain ‘critical mass’ preparation is inevitable for enterprises before a Chief AI Officer is appointed.”
Suggesting steps enterprises should take before appointing a CAIO, Kelkar says, “To begin with, the board and the management will have to be made aware and evangelised about the role of the Chief AI Officer. So that budgets can be allocated and cleared. At the same time, the employees will also have to be trained at various levels on the basis of the AI strategy devised by the company after holding wide ranging consultations with heads of various lines of businesses.”
Enterprises will have to do a lot of tinkering with AI, “An ecosystem of vendors will also have to be created. Moreover a range of Proof of Concepts (PoCs) should be completed on the basis of the use case identification. A lot of experiments will have to be completed, giving the liberty to the employees to get their hands dirty on the models. This has to be done with the active involvement of the business,” says Kelkar.
Regulating AI will be of paramount importance, “On the AI regulation side, it’s important that the various hallucinations that AI models are vulnerable to do not get exposed to the external world,” Kelkar cautions.
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