According to a recent Gartner poll, 54% of organisations have appointed a head of AI or an AI leader but there is significant variation amongst the professional background and skill sets of such leaders, with few having the title of “Chief AI Officer”. What is clear is that most organisations today acknowledge the need to identify an individual responsible for AI, namely AI strategy and AI governance.
AI governance is multi-disciplinary and good AI governance leverages knowledge and experience from a wealth of disciplines, including data privacy, information security, cybersecurity, human rights and many more. It is vital that this cross-section of disciplines be centralised and driven by senior leadership in order to ensure accountability within an organisation. Senior, centralised management also helps foster a good governance culture and raise awareness throughout the organisation from the top down. Having an appointed leader in the C-suite is a good way of ensuring adequate resources are appropriately allocated in a way that allows for meaningful accountability.
