Immunis, a private biotechnology company developing a novel treatment for age and disease-related immune decline, has appointed Neil Sahota as its Chief Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer. AI is a tool that is transforming the way businesses and scientists integrate information, conduct data analysis, and make informed decisions on how to optimize growth. For over 20 years, Neil has inspired AI modernization through technology-based business strategies and has been successful in helping businesses become leaders in the digital future. Immunis is confident that Neil will guide the company to unlock the considerable potential of AI in biotech. AiThority Interview Insights: AiThority Interview with at Brian Sathianathan, Co-Founder and CTO at Iterate.ai Immunis is confident that Neil will guide the company to unlock the considerable potential of AI in biotech.

When Bradford Newman began advocating for more artificial intelligence expertise in the C-suite in 2015, "people were laughing at me," he said. Newman, who leads global law firm Baker McKenzie's machine learning and AI practice in its Palo Alto office, added that when he mentioned the need for companies to appoint a chief AI officer, people typically responded, "What's that?" But as the use of artificial intelligence proliferates across the enterprise, and as issues around AI ethics, bias, risk, regulation and legislation currently swirl throughout the business landscape, the importance of appointing a chief AI officer is clearer than ever, he said. This recognition led to a new Baker McKenzie report, released in March, called "Risky Business: Identifying Blind Spots in Corporate Oversight of Artificial Intelligence." The report surveyed 500 US-based, C-level executives who self-identified as part of the decision-making team responsible for their organization's adoption, use and management of AI-enabled tools. In a press release upon the survey's release, Newman said: "Given the increase in state legislation and regulatory enforcement, companies need to step up their game when it comes to AI oversight and governance to ensure their AI is ethical and protect themselves from liability by managing their exposure to risk accordingly."

The acceleration of artificial intelligence adoption in the enterprise space has created the chief artificial intelligence officer¹ position to handle increasing roles. Companies see the chief technology officer as the person responsible for all technology solutions, but the reality is that AI deployment² commands time and requires a dedicated leader to coordinate with the C-suite. AI and its impact on enterprises dictates that artificial intelligence is an essential component of strategy that every business needs. The focus for those leading AI is to help organizations utilize these systems for enhancing existing business operations and AI powered³ products. This is where the chief AI officer steps in.

Idemia National Security Solutions (NSS) has announced the appointment of Dr. Mark J. Burge, who is known in the artificial intelligence community for leading federal, industrial, and academic teams developing machine learning programs to address difficult biometric and computer vision challenges, to the newly created position of Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer. Burge brings experience working in academia with ETH Zurich, OSU, USNA, in government for IARPA and the NSF, and in industry for Mitre and Noblis, to the new office, according to the announcement. "As Chief AI Officer, Mark will lend insights and expertise to high-impact government and commercial R&D programs, drive groundbreaking research for AI/ML applications, and strengthen NSS's strategic positioning as the leader of identity intelligence solutions for the national security community," comments Idemia NSS President and CEO Scott Swan. The intricacies of deploying biometric facial recognition to enhance national security were explored by Swan fellow NSS executives B. Scott Swann and James Loudermilk in a guest post for Biometric Update earlier this year.

Overcoming these hurdles will get easier over time -- each iteration reduces the challenges for the next one, and scaled roll-out will ultimately make this simply one tool amongst many. But the situation at the moment is analogous to the early days of the world wide web. To make change happen, many organisations turned to a Chief Digital Officer. Over time this became redundant as digital became something that every process had baked in. But, initially, they had a critical role: part prophet, part teacher, part strategist, part operator and part venture capitalist.

Companies across the world are leveraging artificial intelligence to communicate with customers, extract relevant insights out big data and solve some of the most complex problems. AI is everywhere and the way it is rising, it is prophesied to create 2.3 million jobs by 2020. However, even though AI seems to be the next big tide in the industry, many companies are not able to make the best out of this sought after technology. Maybe because they are lacking someone who would be able to make some serious decisions regarding this technology. And this calls for the much-needed job of a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO).

Experts are divided about whether enterprises need a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) and how the role relates to data scientists and CIOs. The argument against the role is that you don't want a C-level position focused on a technology. In this view AI is a tool and it makes no more sense to hire someone at that level just to implement AI than for other tools. Over the next few weeks I hope to demonstrate how far reaching AI is. I also will argue that the winners and losers in most industries will be determined by AI more than any technology since the PC revolution. The term "artificial intelligence" has morphed away from referring to artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Businesses are spending on artificial intelligence, but, according to a recent study, the barriers and opportunities are so significant that they need a C-level position dedicated to AI strategy. Enterprises are wise to the business value of artificial intelligence (AI). They are spending on it and see that it is a competitive necessity. However, business leaders also realize that challenges abound – challenges significant enough to call for a new executive in the c-suite to drive AI strategy, ensure adoption and measure return on investment (ROI). Those are the findings of a new survey by market research firm Vanson Bourne, who conducted the study on behalf of Teradata, a company that specializes in the data and analytics.

Andrew Ng is one of the foremost thinkers on the topic of artificial intelligence. He founded and led the "Google Brain" project which developed massive-scale deep learning algorithms. In 2011, he led the development of Stanford University's main Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform. His course on Machine Learning would eventually reach an "enrollment" of over 100,000 students. That experience led Ng to co-found Coursera, a MOOC that partners with some of the top universities in the world to offer high quality online courses. Today, Coursera is the largest MOOC platform in the world.

In the future, depending on the company size and business type, many organizations will need to consider adding the role of chief artificial intelligence officer. While a full-time dedicated position might seem to be excessive now, the role of a senior leader who is deeply knowledgeable in the broad domain of artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming critical.