The Death of CIOs: How Generative AI Will Render Them Obsolete
As I attended the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, I was struck by the eerie familiarity of the discussions. It’s as if we’re reliving the same cycle of technological disruption that CIOs have been trying to mitigate for years. The latest culprit? Generative AI.
Just like the cloud 15 years ago, CIOs are once again wringing their hands over governance, security, and responsible use of this new technology. But make no mistake, this time it’s different. Generative AI is not just another tool to be managed – it’s a game-changer that will upend the very fabric of IT departments.
"It’s not about controlling the moment, it’s about making sure employees understand their responsibility as users of these tools," said Akira Bell, CIO at Mathematica. But is that even possible? As Chris Bedi, CDIO at ServiceNow, noted, "The talent will start demanding access to AI tools. It’ll be unthinkable to ask employees to do their jobs without GenAI."
The writing is on the wall: CIOs are not going to be able to dictate how employees use generative AI. It’s a genie that’s already out of the bottle. Instead, they’ll need to adapt to a new reality where employees are increasingly autonomous and self-sufficient in their use of AI.
Angelica Tritzo, CIO at GE Vernova, is taking a deliberate approach to implementing generative AI, but even she admits that "the cost and the benefit is not always fully aligned." It’s a signal that the old rules no longer apply, and CIOs need to be willing to take calculated risks and trust their employees to use these tools responsibly.
So, what’s the future of CIOs? It’s a bleak one, unless they can evolve to become more enablers than gatekeepers. As Bedi said, "We have to get our whole workforce comfortable with AI." That means embracing a new role, one that’s more focused on education, training, and guidance rather than control and restriction.
The clock is ticking, CIOs. The choice is clear: adapt or become obsolete.
