- 76% of surveyed companies have established a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO), up from 26% a year ago
- 59% of CEOs say the influence of the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) will continue to rise in the coming years
- Nearly two-thirds of CEOs are willing to use AI to assist in major strategic decisions
BeijingMay 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A new global study released by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) shows that the accelerating pace of AI development is prompting more and more CEOs to reshape the roles and structure of the C-suite to enhance business outcomes across the enterprise.
IBM Releases 2026 CEO Study: ‘Rewiring the C-suite: The Fast Track to 2030’
In the foreword, IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn wrote: “The CEO’s job has always been to navigate through change. But AI is fundamentally transforming the speed and outcomes of leadership decisions. The winners of the future must achieve ‘AI First’ operations—not simply layering technology onto existing models, but building a new operating system. Decision cycles will be compressed to the extreme, and silos between departments will gradually dissolve. Ultimately, only those companies that learn faster, adapt faster, and execute faster than their competitors will sustain a lasting advantage.”
This annual IBM study, surveying 2,000 CEOs globally, reveals: As AI becomes widely adopted in enterprises, CEOs face mounting pressure to reexamine three core issues: How should leadership teams collaborate? How should decision-making mechanisms function? How should organizational structures be designed?
Artificial intelligence is not just another cycle of change. It is a structural shift in how companies think, decide, and compete.
Key findings include:
- 76% of surveyed companies have established a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) in 2026, significantly up from 26% in 2025.
- Companies that organize their C-suite with an AI-first mindset from the top are 10% more likely to scale AI across the entire enterprise compared to peers.
- 64% of CEOs say they are comfortable making major strategic decisions based on AI-generated information.
- 83% of CEOs believe AI digital technology autonomy is critical to business strategy, highlighting that as AI plays a larger role across the enterprise, control equates to initiative.
- An interesting contrast: 86% of CEOs say they trust their employees have the skills to collaborate with AI, but only a quarter of employees currently use AI regularly in their work.
Mohamad Ali, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting, said, “AI is changing two things: connecting people and software in unprecedented ways, transforming how work is done while reshaping how people collaborate. CEOs who achieve real transformation through AI aren’t the fastest movers—they’re the ones who redesign the organization and talent, combining the best people with the most powerful technology.”
New Challenges Demand a Different Kind of Leadership
- 85% of CEOs believe that all functional leaders must become technology experts in their respective domains, sending a clear signal that the responsibility for AI is spreading from a few specialized roles to a broader range of functions.
- In companies with a Chief AI Officer (CAIO), all surveyed CEOs expect that by 2030, not only will the CAIO’s influence continue to rise, but every member of the C-suite will see their influence grow in tandem.
- 59% of CEOs believe the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) will gain further influence in the coming years.
As CEOs Increasingly Rely on AI for Decisions, Governance and Control Become More Urgent
- Surveyed CEOs expect that by 2030, 48% of operational decisions—those with clear, consistent rules and well-defined guardrails—will be made by AI without human intervention, up from just 25% today.
- 79% of CEOs say that as AI’s role grows across the enterprise, they are decentralizing decision-making and distributing accountability.
The Success of AI Depends on ‘Those Who Skillfully Leverage Tools’
- 83% of CEOs believe AI success depends more on employee adoption than on the technology itself.
- Between 2026 and 2028, CEOs expect: 29% of employees will need retraining for new roles, and 53% will need upskilling to better perform their current roles.
- Companies that dare to reshape five core areas—technology, finance, talent, operations, and cross-departmental collaboration—are four times more likely to achieve their business goals than others.
- 77% of CEOs believe that the roles of “talent managers” and “technology managers” are accelerating their convergence, reflecting that talent, technology, and business strategy must be more tightly integrated.
Survey Methodology:
The IBM Institute for Business Value, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, conducted a survey of 2,000 CEOs and senior executives from 33 countries and regions and 21 industries between February and April 2026. The study focuses on how companies are redesigning business models, organizational structures, and execution capabilities in an AI-driven economy, and further analyzes how companies translate AI vision into enterprise-wide business outcomes.
The study also includes insights from executives on how business leaders can navigate AI-driven change. Some firsthand perspectives are included in the appendix below.
Download the English report: ‘Rewiring the C-suite: The Fast Track to 2030’
https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/c-suite-study/ceo
Executive Perspectives
“The introduction of AI is more transformative than the introduction of the internet—not because of the technology itself, but because of its impact on how people work, decide, and collaborate.”
— Jan Polkerman, Director General, Tax and Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Netherlands
“If we are always optimizing old models, we lose the execution capacity to create tomorrow. The challenge is to maintain continuity where necessary while creating space to adopt new ways of working faster.”
— Jan Polkerman, Director General, Tax and Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Netherlands
“Human judgment remains indispensable. AI enhances expertise, it doesn’t replace it.”
— Andrew Anagnost, President and CEO, Autodesk
“You can’t predict every disruption, but you can prepare by building an organization that is resilient, adaptable, and ready to operate through change.”
— Andrew Anagnost, President and CEO, Autodesk
“AI reduces layers, making decisions more real and grounded.”
— Pavithra Shankar, Managing Director, Brigade Group
“AI has moved from the infrastructure layer (largely invisible) to the surface of how we work and serve customers.”
— David Risher, CEO, Lyft
“It’s not about layering AI onto your existing tools and services, but reimagining the entire process.”
— Pablo T. Rivero, CEO, Resy and Senior Vice President, Amex Global Dining
“AI needs to be embedded in how we operate. That means integrating it into workflows across design, merchandising, marketing, stores, and operations—not as a separate project, but as part of how the business runs.”
— Patrice Louvet, President and CEO, Ralph Lauren Corporation
“We view AI proficiency as a core company-wide capability. We focus on practical application—helping teams use AI in their daily work, whether in stores, distribution centers, or offices.”
— Patrice Louvet, President and CEO, Ralph Lauren Corporation
Additional Survey Findings (For Reference)
AI Strategy
- 69% of CEOs say AI is already changing the business areas they consider core. (Year-over-year comparison: 68% in the 2025 CEO study)
- While most current AI initiatives are pilot-focused (53%) rather than growth-oriented (10%), 72% of respondents expect that by 2030, AI will primarily focus on growth and expansion.
- CEOs who systematically integrate proprietary data and intellectual property into custom AI models and agents expect that by 2030, 13% of their revenue will come from products and services not currently offered.
- Although 39% of CEOs say their organizations currently primarily use pre-trained foundation models, they expect this to drop to just 13% by 2030.
- Half of CEOs say they are moving toward a hybrid strategy, combining custom models, foundation models, and smaller specialized models based on specific business needs.
- 63% of CEOs believe that by 2030, their competitive advantage will primarily come from the maturity of their AI models.
Leadership
- CEOs rank productivity or profitability as their top challenge in 2026, followed by talent acquisition and retention, and speed of execution.
Organizational Change and Workforce
- Among surveyed CEOs, those who proactively redesign how teams collaborate are more than twice as likely to achieve their business goals.
- CEOs report that in the past year, 19% of their workforce has been retrained for different roles, and 41% has been retrained to perform their current roles more effectively.
Quantum Computing
- The top three areas where CEOs believe quantum computing can deliver the most value are: operational optimization (48%), accelerating complex problem-solving (45%), and enhancing AI and machine learning capabilities (39%).
- Currently, less than half (46%) of CEOs have dedicated teams responsible for identifying specific quantum use cases and their corresponding business value.