As per the deputy CEO of Quess IT Staffing, job portals in India display more than 350 positions for Al leadership roles and ten for CAIO roles.
Approximately 70% of technology services companies in India have formed leadership roles, including AI directors, according to February research conducted by Nasscom and BCG.
Some of the companies that are hiring for a variety of Al leadership roles, including Al director, Al head, vice president or associate vice president for Al, Al engineering head, and practice head of AI, include audio electronics player Harman International, investment managers Blackrock India, banking and financial services major American Express, jewelry maker Swarovski, audio-visual technology company Dolby Laboratories, Netcom Learning, various IT services companies, and even certain Big Four consulting firms, according to a specialized staffing firm called Xpheno.
Chief AI officers are employed globally by organizations such as German software giant SAP, multinational professional services company Accenture, consulting firm Deloitte, and Dell Technologies.
As Al becomes more powerful, it becomes increasingly crucial to have the visibility of C-suite-level Al leadership, according to Srikanth Velamakanni, cofounder and CEO of Al business Fractal Analytics. Boards are also expected to do this more and more now that Al is acknowledged as a possible business disruptor in addition to an enabler.
“It’s possible that there are more actual opportunities for CAIO positions. Many businesses may be using specialized recruitment channels or internal recruits to fill these positions, according to Joshi. “We expect some companies to begin filling these (AI leadership) roles by the next quarter, with wider adoption happening within the next 18 months.”
“There will be a greater need for specialized leadership roles like CAIOs as more companies mature in their Al adoption and the demand for Al talent grows,” stated Krishna Vij, business head of Teamlease Digital. In India, the job is still developing, according to Vij.
Senior vice president and chief strategy officer Sangeeta Gupta stated that the CAIO position is essential for getting the support of the leadership and leading the planning and implementation of AI preparedness throughout the organization. We are seeing the necessity for specialized AI leadership roles as AI becomes more and more integrated into core business operations.”
She continued by saying that the need for these leaders will inevitably rise as the Al market in India is anticipated to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25–35% through 2027.
According to Velamakanni, Fractal established the CAIO position roughly a year and a half ago. Ajoy Singh was appointed by it.
“The chief Al officer also has the job of making sure that Al is used responsibly, and you are managing the ethical aspects of it as well as the reputational aspects,” he stated. “All the real-world businesses would have to have a chief executive officer or an equivalent role,” he continued, adding that even outside of tech companies, AI has become as vital as electricity.
Nishant Pradhan was appointed to the position in February 2024 by the investment management company Mirae Asset. The first step towards assembling a complete Al team in India has been taken with the appointment of our chief Al officer. In order to build a strong Al platform for Mirae Asset, this team will work with our teams globally as well as locally, according to vice chairman and CEO Swarup Anand Mohanty of Mirae Asset Investment Managers.
When TVS Motor Group began its journey toward digital and AI transformation in January 2022, Mahesh Calavai was named chief digital and AI officer. “We started to see how important Al was becoming to rethinking business processes and business models in the mobility sector.
According to Jaspreet Bindra, founder of Al and digital transformation consulting firm Tech Whisperer UK Ltd., “we can expect something similar for CAIOS.” At one point in time, 83% of Fortune 500 organizations had chief digital officers or equivalents.
However, according to Teamlease’s Vij, a number of new positions are emerging as a result of the growing Al environment, not simply the chief Al officer. They include supply chain optimization professionals, chatbot developers, curriculum developers, learning architects, learning architects, curriculum specialists, supply chain policy analysts, robotics engineers, and ethics specialists.
But, she continued, there is a 51% shortage of Al talent in India compared to the supply. “Due to this substantial gap, there is an immediate need for qualified Al professionals to fulfill the expanding needs of their operations.
Also read: Nurturing Responsible Online Behavior in Students by Building a Culture of Digital Citizenship
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