Those at the very top of the C-suite are getting nervous that AI might cost them their job, even as they secretly rely on it for corporate survival, according to a major new poll.

A staggering 74% of 500 international CEOs surveyed by data and AI platform Dataiku admitted that they are at risk of losing their job within two years if they fail to deliver measurable AI-driven business gains, with 70% of CEOs predicting that by the end of the year, at least one of their peers will be ousted due to a failed AI strategy or AI-induced crisis.

Dataiku’s report, Global AI Confessions Report: CEO Edition, shows how AI is reshaping the very foundation of corporate leadership, as CEOs are forced to reconsider who, or what, will make the most critical decisions in the future.

The survey found that a staggering 94% of CEOs believe AI agents could provide better counsel on business decisions than a human board member, while nine-in-ten (89%) admitted that AI is capable of developing an equal or better strategic plan for their business than their executive leaders.

CEOs reported that the pressure to keep up is reaching boiling point, as more than half (54%) think that a close competitor has already deployed a superior AI strategy, even as 32% report their own AI projects have been canceled or abandoned due to regulatory uncertainty.

That pressure is leading to worries that CEOs who don’t rollout more successful AI initiatives soon might become a cautionary tale in the next wave of executive turnover.

However, the report also provides a word of caution for those CEOs rushing to invest more into poorly executed AI strategies.

According to Dataiku, 87% of CEOs fall into the ‘AI commodity trap’, believing that off-the-shelf AI agents are just as effective as the bespoke solutions most companies are currently investing heavily in.

Added to that, 35% suspect that the plethora of AI initiatives being touted by most firms are nothing more than ‘AI washing’ – designed more for optics than real business impact.

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There are real concerns, too, about the hidden dangers of accelerating AI adoption, as eight-in-ten CEOs said that they’re concerned AI could inadvertently harm their employees (80%) or their customers (83%).

Just as worrying, execs think that the current AI landscape is leaving their businesses exposed to massive governance failures as 94% suspect employees of using ‘shadow’ genAI tools — including ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney — without company approval.

“For CEOs today, every AI decision feels like a high-stakes gamble that can drive competitive dominance or lead to costly consequences,” said Florian Douetteau, co-founder and CEO of Dataiku. 

“The only way to turn AI into an enduring advantage is to assert greater control and governance — future-proofing not just the companies these CEOs run, but their own roles as leaders in an increasingly AI-powered economy.”