The Intelligence Agenda: Who Owns AI in Your Organization?

13th May | Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Intelligence Agenda: Who Owns AI in Your Organization?

Organizations worldwide are racing to be first—and best—in artificial intelligence: first to invest, develop, implement, and deploy. But who takes accountability and ownership of AI initiatives within an organization?

With CISOs taking ownership of cyber risk and CFOs stepping up for financial risk, AI sits in an ambiguous place: data science teams build it, IT teams host it, and business units deploy it. Who holds AI accountable is a long-standing question that remains unanswered.

This edition of MIT SMR Connections, in partnership with Dataiku and KPMG, will bring together CIOs, CTOs, Heads/VPs/AVPs/Sr. Directors of IT and Transformation to discuss the uncomfortable reality and how enterprises can find a solution to it.

Briefing Points

Speed vs Governance

In 2026, speed is the key focus, in contrast to governance, which often guides AI efforts. Organizations with robust governance tend to implement AI more rapidly. The real question is not about delaying AI adoption but about creating accountability frameworks that can keep pace with technological advancements.

The Accountability Test

If an AI system caused a reputational incident tomorrow, what would the plan of action be? Assign explicit AI accountability to C-suite roles: CAIO for strategy, CLO for compliance, CHRO for workforce impact, and CFO for ROI measurement, thereby eliminating the “it’s IT’s problem” mindset.

The Evolving C-Suite Roles

CEOs must champion AI strategy, while new roles like the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) emerge to bridge business and tech, reporting dually to the CEO and the board. Enterprises should mandate AI literacy training for all C-suite members annually.

Up Next: Actionable Steps

You cannot govern what you cannot see. Enterprises need to mandate quarterly AI audits for risk and accountability, establish a small leadership team to oversee all AI decisions, clarify who is responsible, and conduct regular check-ins to catch risks early. The goal should be to turn scattered AI experiments into one clear company-wide plan.

Agenda

05:30 PM