Findings show CEOs regard every AI decision like 'high-stakes gamble,' says expert
Nearly three in four international chief executive officers are worried about losing their jobs if they don't deliver business gains on AI, according to a new report.
The report, released by Dataiku, surveyed more than 500 CEOs in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany to determine the impact of AI on leadership.
It found that 74% are worried about losing their jobs within two years if they don't deliver AI business gains.
Another 70% believe that a failed AI strategy or AI-induced crisis will result in a fellow CEO being ousted by the end of 2025.
The pressure to deliver gains from AI comes amid reports warning that benefits from the technology won't always come in an instant.
Gartner reported in 2024 that executives are facing challenges to prove and realise the value of generative AI, resulting to at least 30% of these projects being abandoned by the end of 2025.
Aaron McEwan, Vice President of Research & Advisory at Gartner, spoke with HRD last year saying that organisations have entered a "trough of disillusionment" after coming off the peak of "inflated expectations" on AI.
"This is where we go: 'Oh my goodness, this thing that we first thought was revolutionary is actually harder to do than we first thought. It's maybe more costly and more expensive to implement than we had originally thought. Maybe it doesn't do everything quite as well as we thought it would and maybe it can't be applied to all of the areas that we thought it could be applied to,'" he told the publication.
But the concerns from CEOs involving AI gains go beyond their roles in the organisation, according to the report.
Eight in 10 CEOs are also worried that AI deployments can harm their employees or their customers, indicating a lack of confidence in execution.
Florian Douetteau, co-founder and CEO of Dataiku, said their findings show that CEOs now regard every AI decision like a "high-stakes gamble."
"The only way to turn AI into an enduring advantage is to assert greater control and governance — future-proofing not just the companies these CEOs run, but their own roles as leaders in an increasingly AI-powered economy," Douetteau said in a statement.
These concerns from CEOs come as 68% are involved in more than half of their companies' AI-related decisions.
It also comes despite the growing trust among CEOs in AI's capabilities, as 91% admit that an AI agent could provide equal or better counsel on business decisions than a human board member.
Another 89% feel that AI can develop an equal or better strategic plan than a member of their executive team.
The report underscores the growing influence of AI on leadership, after SAP's recent poll among US C-suite executives found that 44% would override a decision they had already planned to make based on AI insights.
In fact, 38% admitted that they trust AI to make business decisions on their behalf.
Meanwhile, this reliance on AI among leadership comes amid confidence from 80% of CEOs in their company's AI governance framework, or their ability to set parameters around data access and privacy.
Developing an AI governance framework can be useful in regulating and governing AI technologies' development, application, and use, according to Securiti. It noted that in building a robust governance framework, employers should:
