Businessman shakes hands with artificial intelligence.
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While companies race to deploy artificial intelligence to improve operations, hiring, and competitiveness, they are also chasing top AI talent, such as filling the position of chief AI officer.
That may not be the best approach, says Mike Doonan, managing partner at executive search firm SPMB. He specializes in recruiting high-level technology talent. At a recent CNBC Technology Executive Council virtual event, Doonan told John Fort, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime,” that his company receives requests from companies to find chief AI officers. However, many of them are turned down.
Many of these companies “are unable to clearly articulate what they want, why they want it, and what they want,” Doonan said.
He said the scenario reminded him of the famous Christopher Walken skit on “Saturday Night Live,” where Walken’s character, as a music producer, keeps asking his bandmates for more cowbells.
“All I thought was, all I could do was change the word ‘cowbell’ to ‘AI,'” Doonan said. “Because every company is saying, “We want more.” [AI] When you ask why, they say, “I don’t know, I just need more.” ”
The problem is not that companies are looking to strengthen their AI talent pool, but rather that the pursuit of acquiring these experts is taking priority over analyzing their current state in terms of data maturity. It means that there is. Without that understanding, companies “will end up hiring really senior people,” Doonan said. [data] Cleanup for the next two years. And that’s not good for anyone. These people come in and the organization is not ready for them. ”
Of course, that hasn’t stopped companies from wanting to add a chief AI officer to their ranks. According to LinkedIn’s latest report on leveraging AI, the number of companies with the ‘Head of AI’ position has more than tripled worldwide in the past five years, and increased by 13% since December 2022. . More than a quarter of leaders say the CAIO role is their most pressing hiring priority, according to Alteryx’s Enterprise of the Future report.
Still, Mr. Doonan understands that he may be “the only executive recruiter who can convince people not to hire.” [CAIO] It may already exist in your organization. ”
In recent years, the board has started paying particular attention to technology and security, Doonan said. As a result, CTOs, CIOs, CISOs, etc. are being promoted to positions closer to the C-suite and are increasingly interacting with the board of directors.
“If the CTO is the most senior technology executive in the company, I think that person can be responsible for coordinating all aspects of AI, including infrastructure, data, and security,” he said. “But just throwing another acronym and executive into a management team that isn’t broken is just going to cause more problems than anything else.”
One TEC member who attended the virtual event, where executives were given the freedom to socialize and have the anonymity to discuss internal affairs with colleagues, praised Doonan’s perspective and said it is common practice not to hire CAIOs at this time. He said that he agreed with the view that this was not a public attitude.
The technology executive noted that people he has talked to say the biggest problem they have in getting AI initiatives off the ground is dirty data. “There’s so much cleanup that needs to be done that we can’t even release the data to leverage AI in any meaningful way,” he said. “And I think it will take a few years to clean that up before we can really take advantage of these AI initiatives.”
Naturally, the conversation eventually turned to the other big issue companies are grappling with: returning to the office. Doonan said his work with technology clients proves that “the pendulum has definitely swung back toward in-office work.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be another five days, but companies that have grown through acquisitions with offices across the country are starting to consolidate into two or three locations, especially with their own technology talent. And I think that’s a good thing in a way.”
“In the last 20 years, I’ve hired a lot of really smart 23-year-olds, but I’ve never hired anyone with the maturity of a 23-year-old. They’re all 13 or 43. That’s old. ” said Doonan.
He found that people with the maturity of a 43-year-old “come to the office without being asked.” And I don’t know if that’s what his parents taught him or not. It’s just an innate maturity, but they understand the fact that there’s a certain magic in meeting in person. ”
