Chief AI Officer Is Tech’s Hot New Role — If Companies Can Hire One

Chief AI officer is among the company world’s hottest AI jobs. The function ideally bridges the hole between technical AI experience and enterprise acumen.But leaders say discovering the best candidate might be exhausting — and many do not perceive the function.

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There’s a brand new seat on the C-suite desk — and it is for a chief AI officer.Broadly talking, the function entails bridging the hole between the essential micro particulars of working with AI and the macro technique of the bigger firm. It’s develop into a much more acquainted job for the company world lately as companies search steerage on the way to use AI — a comparatively new expertise — to save lots of time and increase productiveness.Companies throughout industries — from staffing to semiconductors — have been actively hiring for chief AI officers, who’re anticipated to play a significant function in steering companies in the direction of AI adoption because the panorama continues quickly evolving. That’s generally much-needed, with many CEOs showing not sure the way to undertake, put money into, or successfully use the expertise. A current Accenture survey of three,400 C-suite execs discovered that solely 27% mentioned their firms are able to scale up with generative AI.But some companies aren’t certain what the function entails, and whether or not it’s a necessity. Moreover, discovering somebody who suits the function is difficult work, recruiters say.Technical abilities aren’t sufficient to be a chief AI officerCompanies inquisitive about investing extra in AI could also be questioning: Do they really want to rent a chief AI officer when there are already knowledge scientists and machine studying engineers with deep information?The reply from most consultants: sure. The abilities concerned in knowledge evaluation and machine studying, one other scorching tech job that entails designing, constructing and coaching AI methods to allow them to finally begin to make their very own selections, aren’t sufficient.Greg Selker, a managing director at government recruitment agency Stanton Chase, believes the best chief AI officer has a big selection of obligations, together with understanding the ins and outs of enormous language fashions and the way to make them. They additionally must know the way these AI fashions might be utilized throughout all the enterprise.”They cannot be a knowledge scientist who spends their time writing algorithms,” Selker instructed Business Insider. “The chief AI officer is extra going to be concerned in creating the functions which might be going to be leveraging the LLM.”Chris Daigle, the CEO of ChiefAIOfficer.com, an AI consulting service, mentioned most of his small and medium-sized purchasers do not want a machine studying engineer or knowledge analyst to construct their very own LLMs. They simply want a frontrunner who understands the AI instruments that at present exist — and the way to apply them to completely different elements of their enterprise.The job additionally requires abilities outdoors pc science. Justin Kinsey, the president of recruiting agency SBT Industries, mentioned his purchasers want a frontrunner who can navigate the moral minefield of AI deployment. Having that information, he says, will be sure that productiveness good points are made in a protected method. SBT Industries is at present working with two semiconductor firms to rent chief AI officers,Strategic considering is vital to the function, many mentioned, plus management abilities.For instance, Daigle mentioned, a ChatGPT connoisseur with a number of automation methods up their sleeve could not essentially know the way to use the AI chatbot to remodel a enterprise. Instead, the chief AI officer ought to perceive the enterprise on a macro and micro degree earlier than overlaying generative AI onto it.Ideally, it is “a mix of technical experience, strategic imaginative and prescient, and executive-level management,” Kinsey instructed BI.Hiring a chief AI officer is a tricky feat.Business leaders instructed BI that discovering the right candidate who ticks all of the packing containers for the chief AI officer function might be troublesome.”The sheer newness of this area means it is difficult to determine a frontrunner who has already demonstrated the breadth of capabilities to reach such a task,” Kinsey mentioned.Corporations may must decide to investing on this function — which Stanton Chase’s Selker says might be costly.”It stays to be seen what number of firms are literally going to fund the implementation of the methods — and at what degree,” the chief search guide mentioned relating to AI.Companies want AI experience — or they threat being left behindNevertheless, recruiters say companies ought to think about hiring chief AI officers if they’re critical about being an AI-first firm.At the very least, they need to take into consideration the function as an growth of the chief knowledge officer or chief data officer, Selker mentioned, so that they perceive the way to use AI on a systemic degree.Creating an AI technique that may be utilized throughout all the enterprise could also be what determines whether or not an organization will get left behind, he mentioned.”If you are not fascinated about that already, you are sort of screwed,” Selker mentioned.

https://www.businessinsider.com/chief-ai-officer-tech-hot-role-skills-strategy-machine-learning-2024-2

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