new ai executives

Hottest Job in Corporate America? The Executive in Charge of A.I.

I am a health care executive serving in a role that was borne out of a different trend - the diminishing number of women religious leading the hospitals founded by their religious orders.

Two quick thoughts from my experience:

There is a significant value in having a role empowered to provide oversight and support of efforts that pervade an organization. This applies to many senior roles, like finance or human resources. The fact that AI can impact so many disparate areas of operations (including finance, human resources, and beyond) is a good case for a key point-person to ensure AI is implemented in a way that reflects the organization’s mission and values.

The shadow side of these roles, however, is that org-wide responsibility can land on one person. Should everyone (or just key leadership) in the organization defer oversight and responsibility to this one person, it can set the organization up for failure.

Implementing AI is complex on both technical and organizational levels. It demands particular experience & the full support of organizational leadership to be implemented in a meaningful (and successful) way.