AI Strategy Belongs on the Executive Agenda

McKinsey found that only 28% of respondents at organizations using AI reported that the CEO was responsible for overseeing AI governance.

I do not believe every AI decision belongs with the CEO. That would be an impressively efficient way to create a very tired CEO.

I do believe, however, that the enterprise choices behind AI strategy belong squarely on the executive agenda.

AI increasingly influences where capital is invested, how value is created, how work is organized, which capabilities become differentiating, what gets centralized, how quickly decisions can be made, and what level of risk the enterprise is prepared to accept.

Those are not simply technology choices.

They are enterprise choices.

One of the lessons I have learned through leading strategy is that whatever leadership treats as a side initiative will eventually behave like one.

If AI sits outside enterprise strategy, functional areas will naturally optimize it locally. Marketing will optimize marketing. Operations will optimize operations. HR will optimize HR. Technology will optimize technology.

And every function can succeed individually while the enterprise becomes less coherent collectively.

That is why executive ownership cannot stop at sponsorship.

The larger question is strategic integration.

Who ensures that AI decisions across the organization reinforce a common enterprise direction? Who connects the investment portfolio, architecture, talent implications, operating model, governance, and economic value thesis?

That is the work that determines whether AI becomes enterprise capability or simply widespread activity.

So the question I would ask an executive team is:

Who owns the strategic integration of AI across your enterprise?

Not the technology.

Not the pilots.

Not the governance committee.

The integration.

If that answer is unclear, the ambiguity is already part of your AI strategy.