Glossary Approach & collaboration
Chief AI Officer (CAIO)
What is a Chief AI Officer?
A Chief AI Officer is the executive responsible for the use of AI across the organisation: strategy, priorities, governance and results.
Larger organisations increasingly appoint a CAIO, because AI is no longer an IT project but touches processes, people and risks across the organisation. The CAIO makes sure AI initiatives fit the strategy and that someone owns the whole. More on ownership in AI governance.
For mid-sized organisations a full-time CAIO is often too heavy. Then final responsibility sits with the leadership team, with an owner from the business per process and possibly an external partner as a sounding board.
What is an AI officer?
“AI officer” is used in two ways: as shorthand for a Chief AI Officer, and for a lighter role below the leadership team, someone who coordinates the use of AI, keeps the register of AI applications and organises AI literacy. In Germany that role is often called KI-Beauftragter. It is not a mandatory position: according to the European Commission’s questions and answers on AI literacy, the AI literacy duty in the AI Act does not require a specific governance structure such as an AI officer.
Ownership is one of the building blocks of an AI operating model.
Last updated: 20 October 2026