# Will the chief AI officer role survive?

> Companies are hiring chief AI officers at record rates, but the role may be self-defeating: the better they do their job, the less the organization needs them.
- Title: Will the chief AI officer role survive? · Fastcompany
- Summary: Companies are hiring chief AI officers at record rates, but the role may be self-defeating: the better they do their job, the less the organization needs…
- Keywords: chief ai officer, artificial intelligence, executive roles, organizational strategy, chief digital officer, technology leadership, chief, officer, role, survive, Fastcompany
- Source: Fastcompany — https://fastcompany.com/91619035/will-the-chief-ai-officer-role-survive
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: chief ai officer, artificial intelligence, executive roles, organizational strategy, chief digital officer, technology leadership
## The AI officer boom
Chief AI officer is one of the most important executive hires companies make this decade. But it may also be one of the shortest-lived roles.
## ChatGPT changed everything
When ChatGPT started to dominate public consciousness in late twenty twenty-two and early twenty twenty-three, boards began hiring dedicated AI leaders and launching AI task forces.
## Why companies hired them
Without a dedicated person owning AI strategy, initiatives can fragment across teams or lack clear connection to talent, risk, and business opportunity.
## Adoption is widespread
A recent IBM study found more than three-quarters of organizations have a chief AI officer, showing rapid adoption of the role across the business world.
## The paradox emerges
As AI becomes an enterprise-wide capability embedded in every role and workflow, the logic of a single owner becomes harder to sustain and justify.
## Success contains failure
The better a chief AI officer does their job today, the less their organization may need the role in the future.

> The better a chief AI officer does their job today, the less their organization may need the role in the future.
## The CDO precedent
Chief digital officer roles grew from six percent of companies in twenty fourteen to twenty-one percent in twenty eighteen, with hiring appearing to peak in twenty sixteen.
## Digital became normal
As CDOs transformed their organizations, digital transitioned from a specialized capability to something integrated across every domain of the business.
## CDOs lost relevance
CDOs who were not integrated with the core business or overlapped with other C-suite roles struggled to maintain relevance as digital became mainstream.
## History repeating
The chief AI officer role faces the same lifecycle pattern as the chief digital officer, suggesting the position may peak and decline as AI becomes embedded across organizations.
## Key takeaway

Chief AI officer roles are booming but may be short-lived as AI becomes embedded across organizations, following the pattern of chief digital officers who peaked in 2016.