What’s holding back CIO’s AI strategies? Their own AI learning curve for one

Under pressure to deploy AI within their organizations, most CIOs fear they don’t have the knowledge they need about the fast-changing technology.

More than three in five CIOs surveyed by Salesforce say they’re expected to know more about AI than they do, potentially leading to massive and costly deployment mistakes.

And while three-quarters of CIOs looking for AI expertise turn to their peers for guidance, only 9% believe their fellow CIOs know more about AI than they do. Still, other CIOs are the top choice for getting more information about AI, followed by analyst reports, IT vendors, conferences, and IT media.

Salesforce CIO Juan Perez encourages CIOs to learn from their peers.

“AI has put CIOs in the hot seat like never before,” he says. “CIOs know that AI is important but they’re facing a lot of pressure to deliver AI solutions quickly. This pressure, and how fast AI is evolving, has many leaders racing to keep up.”

While sharing knowledge is important, CIOs should also turn to trusted AI partners, Perez advises.“Finding the right partner means that CIOs don’t have to build that expertise in-house or waste time and resources trying to DIY their AI,” he adds.

A lack of AI expertise is a problem, however, when other company leaders often turn to CIOs and other IT leaders as the “go-to people” for solving AI problems, says Pavlo Tkhir, CTO at Euristiq, a digital transformation company.

“A certain level of understanding when it comes to AI is required, especially amongst the executive teams,” he says. “But it’s important to understand that AI is an extremely broad field and to expect non-experts to be able to assist in machine learning, computer vision, and ethical considerations simultaneously is just ridiculous.”

If organizations charge ahead without the necessary AI expertise, they can encounter many problems, including costly AI mistakes and reputational damage, Tkhir adds. “You can face trust issues within teams as employees start doubting their superiors and also become confused about their roles and authority,” he adds.

Tkhir calls on organizations to invest in AI training. CIOs can help identify the training needed, both for themselves and their employees, but organizations should be responsible for the cost of training, he says. Until employees are trained, companies should consult with external AI experts as they launch projects, he says.

Steep learning curve

Many CIOs and other IT leaders will need to seek out their own training, adds Valter Silva, CIO at InFlux Technologies, an AI and cloud computing vendor. With AI evolving so quickly, “there is always going to be a learning curve,” he says.

Silva encourages fellow IT leaders to seek out micro courses and other training opportunities as they face pressure from above to get results from AI projects. “Focus on the areas that will enhance business and efficiency,” he says. “Then scope your own personal plan out as you would with any other project.”

Still, Silva suggests that education for CIOs is critical as AI becomes integrated with more IT systems.

“Working out the integration and upskilling requirements does need planning,” he says. “I believe if you don’t enhance every business process with it, you will simply get left behind.”

A huge part of the problem is that generative AI is so new that little expertise exists, says Seth Blank, CTO at Valimail, an email authentication provider.

“The technology is too novel and evolving,” he says. “As technology leaders and a business community, we’re still discovering AI’s optimal effectiveness, understanding where it delivers the most impact versus where it falls short, and determining appropriate governance models versus areas where autonomous operation is suitable.”

The technology is advancing quickly, meaning today’s expertise may not apply tomorrow, he adds. “When I talk to my peers and other organizations, people have teams that are playing with AI, but no one’s going to have more than a year or two of experience,” Blank says.

Try new things

A lack of deep expertise, however, shouldn’t stop organizations from experimenting with AI, Blank says. He suggests CIOs take a strategic approach by focusing on AI projects that could have the biggest impact on their organizations. Valimail itself has launched several AI projects with promising, if incremental, advances.

“The focus shouldn’t be on identifying today’s consensus on AI implementation strategies, but rather on making strategic organizational investments in understanding where AI can deliver maximum value for your business while maintaining security and good guardrails and remaining innovative,” he says.

There’s value in experimenting with AI, because CIOs and other IT leaders can develop expertise through a limited number of proof-of-concept projects, he adds.

“Can I take 5% of my budget and deploy it against five to 10 different projects, across different teams, to build some expertise, to build some intuition and understand where it’s going to work?” Blank says. “You’re going to have to innovate, and the way you innovate isn’t by getting it right out the gate. It’s about making calculated bets and letting a bunch fail so the others can succeed.”