CIOs Walk AI Tightrope as CEOs Demand Innovation
TechTarget, Wednesday, October 21st, 2026
Business executives tell TechTarget where CIOs should speed up AI, such as training and internal automation, and where to brake.
Only 13% of CIOs say their enterprise has realized significant value from AI, according to Gartner, yet CEOs fear AI-native competitors could undercut them.
TechTarget asked CEOs, founders and business executives where IT should move fast and where it should hold back, and they called for faster training, experimentation and internal automation but tight controls on customer-facing AI actions and caution about dependence on AI vendors.
One executive described AI as a threat to their business model that demands moving faster than is comfortable.
Others said CIOs must hire for new AI skills, even if most companies won't train their own models.