Hiring a chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO)

Artificial intelligence has wide-reaching implications across all aspects of the business, and now some leaders in the field advocate for this technology to be represented in the C-suite by a chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO). Andrew Ng, a renowned A.I. researcher and thought leader, recently made that argument in Harvard Business Review article titled "Hiring Your First Chief A.I. Officer." Summarizing his case, Ng wrote, "The benefit of a chief A.I. officer is having someone who can make sure A.I. gets applied across silos." Since every aspect of a business involves the collection and use of data for competitive advantage, a CAIO could look across an organization and assess how different business units can work together to create new competitive advantages. Matthew Buskell, head of sales and business development at Rainbird Technologies, makes a similar case about the cross-functional impact of A.I. in a post on the Rainbird blog titled "Should There be a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer?"