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Chief AI officers are gaining a more independent place in some organizations, but they are not yet a standard executive role. Foundry’s 2025 State of the CIO survey, as reported by CIO, found that 14% of surveyed organizations had established a CAIO position. Among those organizations, 40% said the CAIO reported directly to the CEO and 24% to the CIO. The shift reflects AI’s growing reach into business strategy, workforce change and risk—not a settled handover of technology leadership.
Why the CAIO role is moving beyond IT
AI began in many organizations as a technology, data or analytics capability. Generative AI and emerging agentic systems have widened the agenda: decisions now touch customer service, software development, operations, products, employee workflows and potentially new sources of revenue. Coordinating that work can exceed the remit of platform deployment alone.
A CAIO may set enterprise AI priorities, coordinate use cases, guide adoption and workforce development, and help establish standards for responsible use. The job is less about being the sole owner of every model than making sure business, technology and risk teams work to a coherent plan. CIO’s account of the role describes responsibilities spanning strategy, usage oversight, workforce development and governance (Ameritas’ chief AI officer on creating the future AI workforce).
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What a CAIO does—and what the title does not guarantee
There is no universal job description. A CAIO, chief data and AI officer, chief digital and AI officer, or head of AI may have materially different authority. In one organization the role can lead a business transformation portfolio; in another it may primarily advise on models and governance. Some organizations assign the mandate to an existing executive rather than create a separate post.
A substantive enterprise AI mandate may include:
- Setting AI strategy and a prioritized portfolio of use cases.
- Coordinating adoption across business units, including generative AI and agentic applications.
- Establishing responsible-use principles, oversight processes and AI standards with the relevant risk functions.
- Planning workforce change, AI literacy and reskilling with HR and business leaders.
- Connecting investment to measurable business outcomes and ensuring each use case has a business owner.
- Coordinating model selection, deployment, monitoring and retirement with technology, data, security, procurement and legal teams.
The title by itself proves none of these responsibilities. A CAIO without authority to shape priorities, influence funding, convene business leaders or escalate material risks may be an adviser, not the accountable executive for an enterprise program.
How the CAIO’s remit differs from other executive roles
Organizations should define decision rights rather than assume that every task labeled “AI” belongs to one officer. A workable division assigns a clear lead while preserving the functions that AI depends on.
| Role | Primary accountability in an AI operating model |
|---|---|
| CAIO | Enterprise AI direction, portfolio coordination, adoption, responsible-use framework and outcome measures. |
| CIO | Enterprise architecture, platforms, infrastructure, integration, identity, operations, service delivery and technology resilience. |
| CDO | Data strategy, availability, quality, lineage, stewardship and data governance. |
| CTO | Engineering and technology integration into products, platforms and technical delivery. |
| CISO | Cybersecurity, identity and access controls, threat assessment, security risk and resilience. |
| Legal, privacy and compliance leaders | Advice and controls within their respective legal, privacy and compliance responsibilities. |
| HR and workforce leaders | Workforce planning, employee impacts, training and change support. |
| Business-unit leaders | Process redesign, use-case ownership and business results such as service quality, revenue or operating performance. |
This is a proposed division of work, not an industry-wide standard. CIO’s reporting on the emerging role notes overlap among CAIO, CIO, CDO, CTO and CISO responsibilities; organizations need to resolve that overlap explicitly (CIO’s coverage of the CAIO role).
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Where should a CAIO report?
Foundry’s 2025 survey figures show that reporting lines vary: among surveyed organizations that had established a CAIO, 40% reported directly to the CEO and 24% to the CIO. Those figures describe organizations with the role, not all surveyed organizations, and do not establish a universally superior structure.
| Reporting model | Most suitable when | Trade-off to manage |
|---|---|---|
| CEO or operating executive | AI is a company-wide transformation, competitive strategy or revenue agenda requiring influence across functions. | The CAIO may be distant from technical delivery unless architecture, data, security and procurement have formal roles in execution. |
| CIO | The focus is on internal platforms, automation, infrastructure or controlled deployment, and the CIO has sufficient AI expertise and business mandate. | Business units may treat AI as an IT service rather than a change to their products and workflows. |
| CDO or CTO | AI is closely bound to data products, advanced analytics, engineering or product development and those leaders already have enterprise-wide authority. | Accountability can become unclear if AI is simply absorbed into an existing data or engineering remit without explicit decision rights. |
| Hybrid or shared mandate | An organization needs a senior AI lead but is not ready to establish a fully separate executive function. | Shared ownership needs a named decision-maker for portfolio choices, risk escalation and funding; otherwise disputes can stall delivery. |
A later CIO report on the same 2025 survey says about half of CAIOs oversee a separate budget (CIO on corporate technology leaders’ need to coexist). A distinct budget can support enterprise priorities, but it does not by itself make the role independent: the CAIO may still rely on CIO-controlled platforms, staff and security operations.
When a dedicated CAIO is worth considering
A separate executive role is most defensible when AI has become a portfolio of material business decisions rather than a small set of IT-managed experiments. Consider a CAIO or equivalent if several of these conditions apply:
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- AI is central to competitive differentiation, products or future revenue.
- Multiple business units are adopting AI independently and need shared priorities and controls.
- AI creates significant regulatory, safety, financial, workforce or reputational exposure.
- The organization needs enterprise-wide workforce and process change, not simply new tools.
- Projects lack a consistent process for prioritization, production readiness or measuring benefits.
- The CIO lacks the capacity, specialized expertise or cross-business mandate to lead adoption personally.
- The CEO or board needs a clearly accountable executive for AI strategy and progress.
A dedicated CAIO is less compelling when AI use is limited to a few productivity applications, the organization is small or operationally simple, or the CIO already has the expertise and authority to coordinate technology, data, security and business adoption. A new title that adds approvals but no budget, authority or clear outcomes creates overhead rather than accountability.
A practical decision score
Use this as an internal discussion tool, not a validated industry benchmark. Score each statement 0 (not true), 1 (partly true) or 2 (strongly true):
- AI is central to our competitive differentiation.
- Multiple business units are deploying AI.
- AI creates material regulatory or reputational exposure.
- We need organization-wide workforce change to realize AI benefits.
- We lack a common way to prioritize AI initiatives.
- The CIO cannot provide sufficient AI leadership capacity.
- AI needs a distinct investment portfolio.
- The CEO or board wants one executive accountable for the AI agenda.
A total of 0–5 points suggests keeping leadership within the CIO, CDO or CTO structure while naming an accountable executive. A score of 6–11 supports considering a head of AI, transformation leader or shared CAIO mandate. A score of 12–16 makes a dedicated CAIO more plausible, provided the role receives real decision rights.
How to make the CAIO and CIO work as partners
The strongest operating model separates mandate while integrating execution. The CAIO can lead the enterprise portfolio and adoption agenda; the CIO supplies the technology foundations and operational discipline. Data, security, legal, privacy, HR and business owners remain active participants rather than downstream approvers.
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A joint AI council can turn that division into repeatable decisions. It should include the CAIO or designated AI lead, CIO, CDO, CISO, legal/privacy and compliance representatives, procurement, HR and business leaders. Give it authority and a defined cadence to:
- Prioritize use cases against business value, feasibility and risk.
- Set risk tiers and requirements for data, models, human review and monitoring.
- Coordinate vendor selection with architecture, security, procurement and legal review.
- Agree production-readiness gates, incident escalation and retirement criteria.
- Resolve funding and staffing dependencies across the AI portfolio.
- Assign a business owner and outcome measure to every scaled use case.
Federal policy offers one example of formalized AI leadership, but it is not a private-sector rule. The Office of Management and Budget’s February 2025 memorandum M-25-21 required federal agencies to retain or designate a CAIO within 60 days; an existing CIO, CDO, CTO or similar official could serve if suitably qualified. It assigned the role responsibilities involving AI innovation, adoption, governance, legal compliance, senior advice and coordination (OMB Memorandum M-25-21). The federal requirement shows how government formalized coordination; it does not establish that every company needs a separate officer.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the CAIO should not own alone
Central coordination should not erase existing professional accountability. The CAIO should not become the sole owner of AI risk, the only approver of technology purchases, or the business owner of workflows they do not control.
- Security: the CISO and security teams assess threats, identity, access and resilience.
- Privacy and legal obligations: privacy, legal and compliance leaders interpret applicable requirements and set controls in their areas.
- Data stewardship: data owners and CDO functions remain accountable for quality, access and governance.
- Procurement and architecture: technology, procurement, security and legal review vendors and integrations through agreed processes.
- Workforce impact: HR and business leaders handle workforce planning, consultation and adoption.
- Business value: the leaders who own the processes must own changes and results; the CAIO can coordinate, not manufacture those outcomes.
A central office also does not automatically end unapproved “shadow AI.” Employees need approved tools, understandable data-use rules, training, a safe route to experiment, monitoring and proportionate enforcement. If sanctioned tools are too difficult to access or procurement is too slow, a new reporting line alone will not address the behavior.
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Counting pilots, models, trained employees, chatbot users or cloud spend can describe activity, but it cannot show whether AI improved the business. Pair delivery measures with outcomes such as:
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- Time from pilot to production and the share of use cases with a named business owner.
- Cycle-time or error-rate changes in the affected workflow.
- Revenue, margin, service quality or cost per successful transaction where relevant.
- Adoption among intended users, alongside quality and safety outcomes.
- Incident rates and time to detect, contain and resolve issues.
These measures help distinguish a functioning portfolio from a sequence of demonstrations. They also clarify the division of accountability: technology teams can report reliability, while business owners report the outcome their process was meant to improve.
The likely direction is coexistence, not succession
CAIOs are becoming more visible where AI requires sustained executive attention across business strategy, governance and workforce change. Yet the 14% adoption figure in Foundry’s 2025 survey marks a minority arrangement, and the reporting split shows that organizations are still choosing different structures. The durable question is not whether the CAIO outranks the CIO; it is whether the enterprise has a clear AI mandate, connected delivery and named owners for risk and value.
For some companies, that will mean a dedicated CAIO with CEO access and a formal partnership with the CIO. For others, it will mean an empowered CIO or another existing executive carrying the mandate. Either model can work only if business units own outcomes, risk functions retain their responsibilities, and the people building AI capabilities remain connected to the people operating them.
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