Whether you’re in an SMB or a large enterprise, as a CIO you’ve likely been inundated with AI apps, tools, agents, platforms, and frameworks from all angles. This isn’t surprising given that gen AI investments alone are expected to grow some 60% over the next three years, according to the Boston Consulting Group, accounting, on average, for 7.6% of IT budgets by 2027.
Dan Priest, US chief AI officer at PwC, says AI proliferation is a reality that’s only going to accelerate, with 79% of CIOs planning to leverage gen AI to help transform their businesses. But only 40% feel fully prepared to manage and integrate these technologies, as PwC’s recent Pulse survey suggests. “Each team and team member will create new agents to perform tasks, autonomously and intelligently,” he says. “At the same time, people are experimenting. They’re using approved tools and exploring others too, increasing the risk of leaking data. CIOs will need to activate multi-layer solutions to manage the complexities coming their way.”
So as a CIO, how should you reign in the chaos and implement a suitable level of governance and control? Of course, you want to enable the entire workforce to innovate responsibly with AI and maximize productivity by utilizing these tools. But you also need to manage spend, reduce duplication of effort, ensure interoperability where necessary, promote standards and reuse, reduce risk, maintain security and privacy, and manage all the key attributes that instill trust in AI.
