A recent poll conducted by Gartner has revealed that 55% of organisations have an AI board, while 54% have a designated head of AI or AI leader to orchestrate activities.

According to the findings, 88% of these organisations indicated that their AI leader does not hold the title of Chief AI Officer. The poll was conducted during a Gartner webinar in June 2024, discussing how executive leaders can assess the cost, risk and value of AI and GenAI initiatives.

When asked who is accountable for AI initiatives, only a quarter of respondents aligned to a clear role. Governance was identified as a primary focus by 26% of executives, while another 21% indicated that strategy should be a primary focus.

"The findings show that organisations are divided regarding if an AI board is necessary," said Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, Frances Karamouzis. "The answer is yes, enterprises need an AI board to transcend the multidisciplinary challenges to drive value and reduce risk. However, the duration, scope, and resourcing is context-specific and use-case dependent. For some, it's a short-term, stopgap measure. For others, it's a longer-term change to their operating model."

Gartner suggests that AI board member composition should have representation from multiple disciplines and cross business units. "It's up to each organisation to determine the best approach to drive speed and agility within their organisation to ensure that the board does not get unwieldy and unproductive due to inability to meet or drive consensus," Karamouzis said.

"The board member composition should align expertise with the scope of the remit," Karamouzis said. "Board members should be senior level and seasoned executives with strong skills in strategy and execution, especially if they have GenAI ambitions."

"AI and GenAI are complex and far-reaching and touch every job, activity and strategic conversation in the organisation," Karamouzis said. "However, this does not mean that the people or team responsible for orchestrating AI at an organisation have to have a title at the altitude of the C-suite."