What do CEOs really think of artificial intelligence? The question nagged Dataiku CEO Florian Douetteau—whose company sells AI software to enterprises—and his team enough to commission a survey to find out.
One thing became clear from the results: CEOs see AI as a threat to their positions.
“Part of the thing that we learned from the survey is that many CEOs realize that they have to do things about AI and are almost, to some extent, fearful of losing their job or their position because of AI, because of not doing enough,” Douetteau said Tuesday at Fortune’s Brainstorm AI event in Paris.
In the survey, 70% of CEOs said they believe a fellow CEO will be ousted by year’s end due a failed AI strategy or AI-induced crisis, according to the survey.
In the worst-case scenario, Douetteau said, business leaders deploying a flawed AI initiative “actually break something…they create an issue.”
But CEOs also see risks in not moving quickly enough with AI, he added. While they could be accused of being irresponsible with the technology if they move too fast, they also fear being replaced by a next-generation, AI-first CEO if they go too slow, he said.
“It’s a moment where a lot of organizations will actually transform their productivity, where the one that will go faster to AI will potentially be a big winner, but also where people that go too fast and create risk in their business could also be the first losers,” he said.
If AI has CEOs on edge, their leadership teams should be wary, too, the survey results suggest. “Half of all CEOs surveyed believe AI can replace 3-4 executive team members for the purpose of strategic planning,” the survey report states. And “89% feel AI can develop a better strategic plan than a member of their executive leadership team.”
Douetteau also noted a survey result showing 94% of CEOs felt an AI agent “could provide equal or greater counsel on business decisions than a human board member.”
