If you want to be a credible Chief AI Officer, here’s the uncomfortable truth: You need a real technical foundation.
Computer science, engineering, robotics—something that teaches systems, not just tools. Then, you need experience building and running real systems—systems that break, scale, and cost money. Not demos, not slides.
Next, you need senior business experience—making decisions, owning outcomes, understanding risk, and ROI.
And only after that do you layer in modern AI: hands-on, implementing, integrating, governing. Not research-level, but real AI used inside real businesses.
The Chief AI Officer role is not a shortcut title. It’s one of the hardest leadership roles a company can create.
