Who Should Own AI? I Started With an Incomplete Answer
CIO, Friday, October 2nd, 2026
A chief AI transformation officer explains why AI ownership needs one accountable executive spanning technology, governance and people.
Christine Park, chief AI transformation officer at Branch, first saw AI mainly as a people and operating-model change, with technology and governance teams as enablers, but operationalizing AI showed her that security, architecture and data decisions are equally central.
She argues that organizations often budget for licenses and model usage but not for the time people need to build fluency.
She recommends one accountable executive, often the CIO but possibly a COO, transformation officer or CAIO, who sets focus, ensures governance produces timely decisions and leads workflow redesign without becoming a bottleneck for every tool request.