A new global study from the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value, with insights from 100 surveyed CEOs in the Middle East, finds that the accelerating pace of AI is pushing CEOs to redesign how C-suite roles are structured to drive greater business impact across the enterprise.
In the Middle East, where organizations are accelerating digital transformation and embedding AI into core business priorities, the findings highlight the growing need for leadership teams that can connect technology, talent and governance to drive measurable business value.
As AI becomes more embedded across business functions, the regional findings reinforce the need to redesign leadership models, workflows and governance to scale AI responsibly across the enterprise.
In the foreword of the study, IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn writes, “The CEO’s role has always been to lead through disruption. What AI changes is the velocity and consequences of leadership. Enterprises that succeed will operate AI-first – not as a layer of technology, but as a new operating model. Decision cycles will compress. Boundaries between functions will dissolve. Advantage will accrue to those who can learn, adapt, and execute faster than their competitors.”
Based on the Middle East findings from the annual IBM CEO study,* which surveyed 2,000 CEOs globally, AI’s growing role in the enterprise is prompting on CEOs to rethink how leadership teams operate, how decisions get made and how organizations are structured.
“Across the Middle East, CEOs are moving from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide transformation,” said Lula Mohanty, Managing Partner, Middle East and Africa, IBM Consulting. “The organizations seeing the greatest impact are not treating AI as a standalone technology initiative. They are redesigning how leadership teams operate, how decisions are made and how people are empowered to adopt AI responsibly. This balance of technology, talent and governance will be critical as businesses look to scale AI with trust and measurable value.”
Among the key Middle East findings:
- 67% of surveyed organizations have a Chief AI Officer in 2026.
- 89% of CEOs say they are actively embedding AI across multiple workflows to optimize end-to-end efficiency and effectiveness.
- 68% of surveyed CEOs say they are comfortable making major strategic decisions based on AI-generated input.
- 85% of respondents agree that AI sovereignty is essential to business strategy, underscoring the importance of having the right controls as AI plays a larger enterprise-wide role.
- Surveyed CEOs say only 25% of the workforce is using AI regularly as part of their job, despite 81% believing their employees have the skills to collaborate with AI.
New challenges demand different kinds of leadership for Middle East CEOs
- 86% of respondents say all functional leaders must become technology experts in their domain, signaling that AI accountability is expanding beyond specialized roles.
- Among organizations with a CAIO, all surveyed CEOs expect the influence of the role to increase by 2030, alongside rising influence across every member of the C-suite.
- 54% of surveyed CEOs say the CHRO’s influence will increase over the next few years.
As Middle East CEOs turn to AI-driven decisions, governance and controls become more critical
- By 2030, surveyed CEOs expect 48% of operational decisions where consistency and guardrails can be codified will be made by AI without human intervention, compared to 25% today.
- 68% of executives surveyed confirm they are decentralizing decision-making, distributing accountability as AI plays a more significant role enterprise-wide.
Middle East organizations are betting on people to drive AI success
- 85% of CEOs surveyed say AI success depends more on people’s adoption than technology.
- Between 2026 and 2028, respondents expect 29% of employees to require reskilling for a different role and 54% to need upskilling to perform their current role more effectively.
- 69% of respondents say talent and technology leadership roles are converging, suggesting tighter integration between talent, technology and enterprise strategy.
- Meanwhile, globally, surveyed organizations that redesigned five core business areas — technology, finance, HR, operations and cross-functional collaboration — are 4x more likely to have delivered on business objectives.
