Given the outsized role AI has taken in discussions about the future of work, not to mention humanity, it is no surprise that a C-level role focused on this technology has emerged.  “There's this trend line when something is massive, important, game-changing from an industry perspective, and people don't know how to react to it, they name a C-Level title who is ultimately responsible and accountable for incubating new ideas, trying new ways of working, and pivoting an organization culturally,” Casey Foss, chief commercial officer at West Monroe, a business and tech consulting firm, tells InformationWeek.  West Monroe conducted a survey of 1,000 professionals at the director, vice president, and senior vice president levels to get an idea of what they expect the C-suite to look like in five years. The chief AI officer (CAIO) role played a prominent part in the responses; 40% believe that this position will grow in influence and importance over the next five years.  What exactly does the CAIO role look like today, and how will it have to change to keep up with the breakneck development of AI technology and its capabilities?  What Does a Chief AI Officer Do? When a new leadership role begins its rise to prominence, there is a lot of room for individuals and companies to define what it looks like. A CAIO’s job at one company might look quite different from another.  Related:“Some AI officers are identifying use cases. Some are heavily focused on the technology. Some are heavily focused on upskilling the people and delivering value through how they do the work,” says Foss.  For Ivalua, a cloud-based procurement software company, AI was so important that the company’s founder David Khuat-Duy shifted from his position as CEO to CAIO at the beginning of this year.  His first objective in his new role is to deploy AI internally at the company. Then, he wants to take those lessons learned to customers.  LinkedIn appointed its CAIO, Deepak Agarwal, at the beginning of this year as well. “To help LinkedIn use the best AI technology available for our purpose and goals, my team and I focus on developing and deploying cutting-edge AI solutions that enhance how members and customers connect, learn, and grow on the platform,” he tells InformationWeek via email.  Given just how quickly AI is advancing, a primary responsibility of CAIO could be keeping up with those changes and understanding what that means for their enterprises.  Vivek Mohindra, senior vice president, corporate strategy at Dell Technologies, a technology solutions company, works closely with John Roese, Dell’s CTO and CAIO. “John and I collaborated to set up what we call AI radar. We really track on a daily basis the changes in our landscape and think about what the implications of that could be,” he shares.  Related:CAIOs could be heading up efforts to build models internally or finding ways to leverage externally built models. And managing data is intrinsic to that task.” There’s a lot of data categorization, storage, cleaning that needs to happen,” says Khuat-Duy.  As CAIOs identify use-cases for AI and champion their implementation, they are likely to be spearheading the accompanying changes in process and culture. “Chief AI officers must also serve as internal advocates for AI while guiding teams through emerging regulations, ethical considerations, and increasing stakeholder expectations for what AI can achieve,” says Agarwal.  The regulatory and ethical dimensions of the job are no small piece. AI governance is integral to the CAIO’s responsibilities.  No matter how a CAOI is tasked with doing their job, the overarching goal is almost certainly going to be delivering value from AI to their enterprise. How Does the Role Fit into the C-Suite? AI is poised to touch every aspect of business operations, if it isn’t already. That puts the CAIO in a position that requires communication and coordination with other executives and their teams.  Related:Roles like CTO, CIO, and chief data officer are natural complements to the CAIO. Indeed, Dell’s CAIO is also its CTO.  “My weekly meetings with the CTO are extremely important both because the CTO's office builds out a lot of the architecture that we have to fit into but also we have a big impact on with that architecture has to look like in order to get the data to the right place,” says Craig Martell, chief AI officer at Cohesity, an AI-powered data security company.  They might find themselves in regular conversations with a chief people officer or chief human resources officer about sourcing talent and how AI is reshaping the day-to-day for existing talent.  Interaction with the CFO is inevitable. How much of the budget can a CAIO secure for their AI strategy? AI comes with cybersecurity concerns. Naturally, the CISO is going to want face time with a CAIO to understand how to mitigate those concerns. Of course, CEOs and boards are going to want to know how AI can drive an enterprise toward its business goals.  Martell also finds himself spending a good deal of time on compliance issues, particularly around data usage. “The chief AI officers are going to have to become much more legally adept,” he notes. That is going to mean coordination with chief legal and compliance officers.  How Could the Role Change? The AI landscape is no stranger to shakeups. DeepSeek came onto the scene, sparking an avalanche of discussion around the possibility of a cheaper model undercutting the more entrenched players.  The enticing possibilities of AGI and quantum computing hover in the future, albeit one of uncertain timing. Big questions about how to regulate AI are still open. What do all of these potential changes mean for the position that is meant to shepherd organizations’ AI strategies?  For now, the role is less about exploring the possibilities of AI and more about delivering on its immediate, concrete value.  “This year, the role of the chief AI officer will shift from piloting AI initiatives to operationalizing AI at scale across the organization,” says Agarwal.  And as for those potential upheavals down the road? CAIO officers will no doubt have to be nimble, but Martell doesn’t see their fundamental responsibilities changing.  “You still have to gather the data within your company to be able to use with that model and then you still have to evaluate whether or not that model that you built is delivering against your business goals. That has never changed,” says Martell. Will Chief AI Officers Face Pressure to Deliver? AI is at the inflection point between hype and strategic value. “I think there's going to be a ton of pressure to find the right use cases and deploy AI at scale to make sure that we're getting companies to value,” says Foss.  CAIOs could feel that pressure keenly this year as boards and other executive leaders increasingly ask to see ROI on massive AI investments.  “Companies who have set these roles up appropriately, and more importantly the underlying work correctly, will see the ROI measurements, and I don't think that chief AI officers [at those] organizations should feel any pressure,” says Mohindra.  Will Chief AI Officers Last in the C-Suite? AI is certainly not going anywhere, but what about the CAIO?  Khuat-Duy argues that there will continue to be the need for a central team that manages this technology. “Managing data and the architecture around LLMs is clearly something that needs to be thought [about] in a central, global way for a company,” he says.  Mohindra envisions the CAIO role at Dell as a temporary one.  “This role is finite by design. It is to launch and integrate AI until it becomes inseparable from how our company operates and it is embedded in the DNA of the company, at which point you really don't need a separate role to capitalize the momentum that one needs for an AI-powered enterprise,” he says.  That could mean the CAIO simply steps into a different position. Or, the role gets folded into another. “I think the most likely path is sort of a combination of data and AI,” says Martell. The fate of the role, like its current form, is likely to be dictated by the needs of individual companies.