The chief AI officer has emerged as a new C-suite position at a number of large corporations over the past six years, according to a recent report from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates.
A total of 71 companies currently have chief AI officers or an executive with an equivalent title, representing 10.7% of the 665 of Fortune 500 and S&P 500 corporations analyzed for the firm’s wide-ranging Mid-Year Volatility Report on executive leadership trends released in August.
Software company FactSet Research Systems, and major corporations such as Boeing, Eli Lilly, and McDonald’s, are among the companies appointing the AI-focused executives, according to the report, which asserted the executives have been appointed since 2020.
A company’s chief AI officer oversees the implementation of AI technology that is used throughout the business and implemented into various workstreams, said Josh Crist, co-managing partner at Crist Kolder.
“This usually starts with practical technologies like generative AI, machine learning, and predictive models and broadens from there,” said Crist.
In total, 18.5% of healthcare companies have appointed chief AI officers, the most of any industry, the report stated. Financial companies, followed by technology companies had the next highest concentration, with 15.3% and 12.6%, respectively, adding such roles to their C-suite.
Crist Kolder doesn’t have insight into previous years’ data so it is unclear how the role has grown in recent years, said Crist. Still, Crist, in an email, said he projects nearly 20% of companies will ultimately employ this role in some way, shape, or form in 2027.
“This is very new, within the last few years that we have seen this role sprout up substantially,” he said.
When it comes to the practical use of AI technology, companies need leadership and a set of internal checks and balances that flows through management, making the chief AI officer role important, Crist said.
That’s particularly true as agentic AI, a form of advanced AI that executes tasks with minimal human intervention, takes off, he said.
Of course, the rise in executive roles focused on the technology comes as overall worldwide spending on AI has exploded. It’s on track this year to rise 47% to $2.6 trillion from last, according to the consulting firm Gartner, a level that would exceed the gross domestic product of both Canada and Australia, CFO Dive previously reported.
Healthcare and technology companies were the first to implement practical AI across business functions, said Crist. It’s unsurprising, given how heavily those industries utilize data orientation and analytics, that these sectors are leading the way in hiring dedicated AI C-suite executives.
GE HealthCare, for example, hired its first chief AI officer in 2023, CFO Dive sister publication MedTech Dive reported. The executive, Parminder Bhatia, reportedly described his role as one that accelerates the technology’s use while also understanding its capabilities and limitations, according to Business Insider.
Crist said he projects that manufacturing will eventually catch up with the healthcare and technology industries when it comes to implementing chief AI officer roles. Over 8% of companies within the industrial sector have added the role to their C-suite, the report stated.
The emergence of the new title comes many years after chief information officers first arrived.
The chief AI officer role is completely new and different from the other C-suite roles, so it won’t dilute the power of other executives, said Crist.
“Will, over time, this function leak into additional functions? Of course,” said Crist. “But we are not seeing any dilution in the influence of C-suite peers to the AI Officer.”
