Who’s leading the AI revolution? The rise of the CAIO

Using 3D data from Findem's Talent Data Cloud, we're surfacing insights that help talent teams uncover key industry trends, market shifts, and strategic opportunities.

The AI hype of 2023 became serious business in 2024. As they watched their employees lessen their workload by prompting GenAI for answers, it became clear that companies, particularly in regulated industries, needed to define the guardrails for the compliant use of AI. 

That responsibility falls to leadership, driving increased interest in the role of Chief AI Officer (CAIO). Keep reading to see what Findem’s data reveals about CAIOs today, and the opportunities ahead as AI continues to transform industries.

Finding #1: CAIOs may be critical for growing companies

While dedicated AI leadership roles are still relatively uncommon, the best place to look for CAIOs is at growing companies. Particularly, at Fortune 500 companies with specific leadership positions focused solely on AI.

• 77% of CAIOs at Fortune 500 companies worked at a company with 2% or greater growth in 2023
• 17% of CAIOs led initiatives at companies with 15%+ revenue growth in 2023

Finding #2: The AI leadership title is still evolving

45% of the talent pool of AI executive leaders held the role of chief AI officer or chief artificial intelligence officer. Related titles included data, analytics, or transformation. Findem included these executive titles in our talent pool for this research:

• Chief Data and AI Officer
• Chief Information Officer, Data and AI
• Chief AI Transformation Leader

Of note are AI titles one step down from the c-suite:

• VP and Chief of AI
• Vice President, Chief Responsible AI Officer
• ​​Executive Vice President, Chief AI and Analytics Officer

Finding #3: With data and regulations comes the need for a CAIO

Fortune 500 companies with a chief AI officer or chief data and AI officer included top tech companies, financial services, energy, and healthcare organizations. Fortune 500 companies that have filled this c-suite position:

• S&P Global
• Dell Technologies
• eBay
• Boeing
• Microsoft
• Entergy
• Elevance Health
• UnitedHealth Group
• Mastercard
• FIS
• NRG Energy
• Thermo Fisher Scientific

Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI and industry leader with the Microsoft Copilot, has multiple executive AI positions. Mustafa Suleyman holds the title of CEO of Microsoft AI and Paul Rodrigues is Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of the National Security Group.

Finding #4: Look beyond the business for AI leaders

More than 60% of CAIOs have been at their current company for 0-2 years, indicating that these may be hires from outside the organization. 

The most common attributes of chief AI officers include:

• Long-tenured employee
• Fortune 500 Executive
• AI and Technology Leadership
• MBA
• PhD
• Cross-Functional Leadership
• Engineering Experience
• Bilingual

Start hiring chief AI officers and leaders

At Findem, we’re always on the lookout for new and developing roles in the business landscape. 

Findem’s Talent Data Cloud analyzes data from over 100,000 different sources to create 1.4 trillion unique and factual data points about the global workforce. Chief AI Officer is a critical role that’s on the rise; Findem’s 3D data provides insight into who is getting these positions and what to look for in hiring.

Whether you are angling for the position of Chief AI Officer at your company or the executive recruiting team tasked with making the hire, we think you’ll find this useful.