0:09
So Martin, I wanted to have a quick chat about a couple of things that I’ve seen in the media around the impact of AI and different angles.

0:18
First one I want to kick off with – is quite an interesting one actually – because there’s lots of noise at the moment, particularly amongst large organisations of this idea of a chief AI officer.

0:29
Do we need to have somebody at the C-Suite who is just responsible for AI?

0:33
So I wanted to get your take on that because in my head I thought, well, at the moment, businesses like ourselves, we started to use things like Copilot or Gemini Chat GPT, LLPs,

0:47
We’re finding ways in which AI can impact the very nature of work that we do.

0:52
Is this just going to be something that effectively within five years is going to become just part of BAU, AI is just part of our lives and we’re utilising it in a multitude of different ways.

1:03
And so therefore, is this just a bit of a fad, this idea of the Chief AI Officer?

1:08
We’ve, you know, we’ve spoken about sort of the evolution of the different types of roles that businesses go through that are often a reaction to change.

1:18
This will undoubtedly be one of those.

1:21
So we can look back with a rearview mirror to other types of roles, whether it’s Chief Digital Officer.

1:26
Yeah, something from a from not too long ago.

1:29
We’re seeing increasing change in Chief Data Officer, and I think part of it is an immediate reaction to capacity and knowledge.

1:39
So it might be that if you are sitting in the C-Suite going through an existing set of significant business change, what you don’t often have is capacity to start thinking out to the future or actually focusing on this one topic with a level of knowledge in order to try and affect it and then inform the C-Suite as to what to do.

1:58
So I think that’s certainly going to be a significant factor.

2:02
Does that not then mean it just becomes effectively a sort of chief strategy sort of officer role?

2:07
And this is where I think businesses will evolve as to what it means for them.

2:10
So if you think about the Chief Digital Officer, you know, which was sat alongside often a CIO of different degrees.

2:17
Now it even there were more maybe focused on specific areas that a business needed to try and accelerate in order to get to a certain point.

2:25
I think that’s maybe where we are at the moment.

2:28
So I can certainly see that where AI starts to become part of the BAU and the level of knowledge and the capacity in order to refocus.

2:38
Because if you imagine at any point we’ve got one foot in the past and with what with one eye in the future.

2:43
So with one foot in the past, it’s often and particularly in the CAI officer, the Chief AI officer space, then it’s often, well, where does that sit?

2:52
A conversation I had yesterday with a recruiter actually, I was talking about, well, how on earth, some of these roles don’t exist.

3:00
Some of these skill sets don’t necessarily exist.

3:01
So I think we’ve got slightly stuck a little bit betwixt in between.

3:05
But what it does indicate is you’ve got many people trying to deal with legacy issues from the past, not purely been able to focus on the future or where you are at the moment and an evolving skill set.

3:17
So it’s sometimes trying to encapsulate that into one point in order to accelerate some of that change whilst they can focus, you know, maybe the C-Suite focus on where they want to go.

3:28
And it then also starts to raise other questions around, well, if chief artificial intelligence officer, when you actually say it out loud as opposed to just the, the acronyms and the sort of buzzwords, well, is AI just a tech problem?

3:44
No, it’s going to impact all parts of a business and therefore, well, what’s the application of it?

3:50
So therefore, actually does it start to impact strategy. Does it start to impact if it’s, well, if it’s intelligence, there’s different types of intelligence, there’s human intelligence, there’s consumer intelligence, there’s a whole variety of things dependent on the different aspects of it.

4:03
So does that sit maybe more locally to if it’s more of a Consumer Focus, that might be one part of, it’s more of an engineering and manufacturing part.

4:11
If it’s sat with your people, that’s another aspect to it.

4:15
So again, you can see this well, where does this sit?

4:17
Not quite sure, but we know that we need some capacity and some focus on it and to go away and start to look at where we’ve got the gaps.

4:24
So I think there is some transient element to it.

4:28
How long that exists for, given the potentially seismic change that’s going to come with it, is the is the crystal ballpark.

4:35
Yeah.

4:35
And that’s the bit I think we’d love to get some views.

4:37
If you’re watching this video, where are you?

4:40
Where is your business at from a chief AI officer?

4:43
Is this something that you’re considering?

4:44
Are you looking at it’s just essentially part of the CAIO role?

4:48
Is this a collective effort that the C-Suite need to look at?

4:51
Is it a strategy piece?

4:52
And if you want to get in contact with us, please do.

4:54
We’d love to have a chat with you about it.

4:56
We’d love to canvas some opinions.

4:57
Maybe we can get you on the podcast.

4:59
But yeah, it’ll be great to hear from you.