Business leaders are losing confidence in their chief information officers’ AI readiness, with only 44% of CEOs considering their top tech experts ‘AI-savvy’, a new Gartner report has revealed.

In a survey of more than 450 CEOs and senior business leaders, Gartner found that despite 77% of CEOs agreeing AI is ushering in a new era in business, they don’t feel their organisation’s leading technology executives have the knowledge or capabilities to accelerate business outcomes in a rapidly evolving landscape.

The doubts don’t stop at CIOs. Fewer than half of CEOs (46%) see their chief information security Officers (CISOs) as AI-savvy, while just 40% say the same of their chief data officers (CDOs).

Recent evidence from elsewhere suggests that far from agreeing with their CEOs evaluation, most CIOs consider themselves the driving force behind their organisation’s AI strategies.

The recently published State of the CIO Survey 2025 from the CIO website found that 80% of chief information officers have been handed responsibility for researching and evaluating AI tools for their organisation, with three-quarters working on new AI applications.

While there appears to be some major communication issues between CEOs and CIOs, the numbers are even worse among other, less tech-focused members of the C-suite.

CEOs were found to be overwhelmingly sceptical of CROs (18%), CFOs (16%), and COOs (14%) when it comes to their ability to get the most out of AI, although were most dubious about the AI talents of chief learning officers (9%) and chief human resources officer (7%).

“We have never seen such a disproportionate gap in CEOs’ impressions about technological disruption,” said David Furlonger, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.

“AI is not just an incremental change from digital business. AI is a step change in how business and society work. 

“A significant implication is that, if savviness across the C-suite is not rapidly improved, competitiveness will suffer, and corporate survival will be at stake.”

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CEOs are becoming more conscious of the impact AI will have on their executive teams, with most admitting that the technology could outthink their leadership teams, according to research from Dataiku.

A staggering 94% of CEOs polled by the data and AI platform said AI agents could provide better counsel on business decisions than human board members, while nine-in-ten admitted AI is capable of developing equal or better strategic plans for their business than their executive leaders.    

With that certainty in mind, more businesses are bringing on board chief AI officers, with 48 of the 100 top UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange now having an in-house CAIO – 42% of these critical hires occurring in just the past year.