AI surge fuels dramatic transformation of CIO role
As AI continues to move into the enterprise, the CIO's role is rapidly expanding into AI leadership, scaling AI responsibly and delivering measurable business value.
The CIO role is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades.
CIO's have always been responsible for an organization's IT operations, including the software and technology services the organization uses. But the CIO role is expanding with the dramatic rise of AI in modern organizations.
As organizations move deeper into the AI age, the CIO role is changing faster than any other executive position, according to Chris Campbell, CIO at Devry University.
"AI isn't simply another technology wave to absorb," he said. "It's reshaping how companies operate, make decisions and serve their customers."
The case for the CIO as chief AI officer.
The question of who should own AI strategy depends largely on where data governance, security and architecture already sit in the organization.
Why CIOs should own AI strategy
The CIO already sits at the intersection of data, infrastructure and business operations.
"CIOs have a unique vantage point across every function," said Saket Srivastava , CIO at Asana, a provider of work management and team collaboration software. "We see where processes break, where data sits and where friction costs the business real money."
However, creating a separate CAIO role introduces practical challenges. The overlap with data, security and automation makes it difficult to decouple this work from traditional CIO organizations, according to Sumit Johar, CIO at BlackLine, a firm that provides cloud-based financial automation and accounting software. A new C-level role also requires a full-scale team, resources and budget.
AI is a data, architecture and governance challenge, which makes the CIO the natural owner, said Hrishikesh Pippadipally, partner and CIO at accounting services firm Wiss. But in most organizations a standalone Chief AI Officer (CAIO) only becomes necessary when AI is a core product or revenue driver.
"The CAIO role can be an excellent accelerant for organizations who feel that AI is so central to their success that they need a senior executive solely focused on driving it, or where the CIO is also driving other significant transformations," said Fiona Mark, principal analyst at Forrester.
The question whether an organization needs a CAIO or not misses the point and reduces the debate to a simpler question, said Campbell.
"The question isn't really about titles, it's about accountability," he said. "Every organization needs a clear owner for AI strategy, responsible guardrails and value realization."
Every organization needs a clear owner for AI strategy, responsible guardrails and value realization.
Chris CampbellCIO, Devry University.
New responsibilities in the AI-expanded CIO role
The CIO's responsibilities now extend into areas that didn't exist a few years ago, from model lifecycle management to workforce transformation.
CIOs are handling four major new areas:
AI governance, including model deployment, data usage, ethics review and risk management.
Workforce strategy, including training programs, enablement and change management.
Model lifecycle management, including selection, deployment, monitoring and retirement of AI models.
Cross-functional coordination, including alignment across IT, data, security, risk and HR.
Skills and competencies for the next-generation CIO
Leading AI transformation demands a different skill set than traditional IT operations.
Technical capabilities
The hiring profile has shifted. Organizations don't need an army of researchers but rather AI-literate problem solvers, strong process designers and governance specialists, according to Pippadipally.
The technical requirements go beyond basic AI knowledge and leaders need to build overall AI literacy, Mark said. This includes how to prompt AI tools effectively, understand ethics and security concerns, and judgment and critical thinking to augment AI usage. As agentic AI capabilities mature, leaders will also need skills around AI agent design and orchestration.
Business outcomes focus
Connecting AI to business results has become critical. The initial phase of adopting AI at BlackLine focused largely on productivity, according to Johar.
"What became clear is that improved productivity doesn't always reflect real business outcomes," he said.
Change management skills
The teaching component of the role has expanded. CIOs should teach people to be AI managers who can direct AI work, review outputs and improve instructions, rather than just training them on tools, Srivastava said.
Cross-functional governance models
Srivastava runs an AI Council at Asana with representatives from every function. "These aren't just advisors," he said. "They're co-owners who bring their teams' needs forward and drive adoption back into their departments."
Campbell implemented an AI Lab model at DeVry, a cross-functional governance and steering group that has been essential to moving at pace. The structure ensures alignment across the institution, accelerates decision-making and identifies high-value opportunities that can scale.
Scaling AI capacity across the organization
Many CIOs discover that centralized AI teams can't keep pace with demand. For example, in 2025 BlackLine invested in a separate AI team and combined it with the existing automation team, Johar said. "It worked really well for a while until we realized we'll never have enough AI capacity as the demand is going out of the roof," he said. BlackLine now sets AI-specific goals for every part of the organization.
Budget reallocation
The investment pattern needs to change and budgets should shift from one-time tool purchases to ongoing investment in platforms, training and model risk management, according to Pippadipally.
Shadow AI and compliance gaps
Without clear direction, teams adopt whatever tools promise productivity gains, often without proper security reviews, vendor vetting or audit trails, Srivastava said. This leads to "dozens of disconnected agents or AI tools across the organization, no visibility into what they're doing and real compliance risk."
Strategic fragmentation
Without clear leadership, the AI strategy risks becoming scattershot and piecemeal, according to Campbell. This can lead to AI being used in ways that expose the organization to risk or without clear alignment to organizational goals.
Employee trust erosion
Trust issues emerge when AI authority is unclear. When people don't understand where AI has decision authority or when outputs aren't explainable and they stop using it, said Srivastava. Even worse, they over-rely on it in high-stakes situations without appropriate human review.
Preparing for the next phase of tech leadership
CIOs should consider the following actions to help prepare for the next phase of tech leadership in the modern AI era.
Establish governance frameworks
Start with structure and accountability:
• Create an AI governance framework with clear decision rights.
• Define who owns AI strategy, governance and delivery.
• Formalize cross-functional steering to avoid isolated experimentation.
Assess organizational readiness
Understand where your workforce stands before building programs:
• Survey employees to gauge AI maturity, enthusiasm and barriers.
• Categorize teams as champions, early adopters, curious or skeptics.
"The key is moving from talking about AI to actually using it in real workflows—with the right guardrails, the right people involved, and clear ways to measure if it's working," he said.
This practical focus reflects a larger evolution in the CIO role itself.
"AI leadership is no longer about deploying a model or winning a demo," Campbell said. "It's about preparing an organization to use AI responsibly, confidently, and at scale. And that is exactly where the CIO's role is headed in 2026 and beyond."
Sean Michael Kerner is an IT consultant, technology enthusiast and tinkerer. He has pulled Token Ring, configured NetWare and been known to compile his own Linux kernel. He consults with industry and media organizations on technology issues.
