In a revealing Business Insider roundtable discussion held on September 12, top technology executives from major organizations shared insights on how artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) are fundamentally reshaping their roles and priorities. The panel featured La’Naia Jones, Chief Information Officer of the CIA; John Roese, Global CTO and Chief AI Officer of Dell Technologies; Elaine Zhou, co-CEO of SageCXO and former CTO of Change.org; Faisal Masud, President of Worldwide Digital Services at HP; and Erin DeCesare, CTO of ezCater.
The executives discussed their personal and professional applications of AI, revealing diverse use cases that demonstrate the technology’s versatility. DeCesare uses ChatGPT for creative meeting prompts, while Roese has embedded an AI system called Josh in his 1780 historic home for privacy-oriented automation. Masud highlighted AI’s medical diagnostic capabilities, noting how Claude provided accurate diagnoses from simple photographs. Zhou shared how her 80-year-old mother uses ChatGPT in Chinese to plan travel, demonstrating AI’s accessibility across generations and languages.
A central theme emerged around how CTO and CIO roles have evolved dramatically in the past 18 months. DeCesare explained that the traditional boundaries between these positions are blurring, with cloud-based AI making distinctions obsolete. Low-code platforms like Retool and Nintex are shifting software engineering concerns to IT-operated capabilities. Roese emphasized that companies must now operate at R&D speed rather than typical IT cycles, requiring dramatic cultural shifts and careful process re-engineering before implementing AI solutions.
Masud challenged the notion that AI should reduce headcount, arguing instead for doing more with existing resources while meeting heightened expectations from Gen Z users who demand seamless experiences. He noted that corporate AI tools must match the quality of publicly available LLMs or risk low adoption rates. Jones provided the government perspective, noting that CIO roles in the public sector are defined by policy and statute, requiring collaboration with lawyers, privacy experts, and policy specialists given data’s foundational role in intelligence missions.
Regarding strategic priorities, the executives emphasized customer focus and problem-solving over technology for its own sake. Roese outlined Dell’s approach of identifying core competencies—engineering, supply chain, services, and sales—and prioritizing AI applications in those areas. Masud stressed focusing on inputs (customers) rather than outputs, solving basic problems before attempting complex implementations. The consensus: continuous learning and adaptation are essential as AI technology evolves at unprecedented speed.
Key Quotes
We don’t waste a lot of time AI-ing bad processes, which was our biggest strategic risk at our scale.
John Roese, Dell’s Global CTO and Chief AI Officer, emphasized the critical importance of process re-engineering before AI implementation. This insight challenges the rush to apply AI without strategic planning and highlights why many AI initiatives fail to deliver value.
It’s about doing more with what you have versus what you potentially can get rid of.
Faisal Masud, HP’s President of Worldwide Digital Services, pushed back against the narrative that AI should primarily reduce headcount. This perspective reframes AI as a productivity multiplier rather than a replacement strategy, addressing widespread workforce concerns about automation.
The quality of what you produce in your organization as a CTO — if you’re going to provide models built in-house — better be superstar quality, or no one’s using it.
Masud highlighted a critical challenge facing enterprise AI adoption: corporate AI tools must compete with consumer-grade LLMs like ChatGPT. This sets a high bar for internal AI development and explains why many enterprise AI initiatives struggle with user adoption.
Not a single line of code is going to be written after next year by a developer.
Masud referenced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s bold prediction about AI-generated code, calling Huang ’the GOAT’ (greatest of all time). This statement reflects the transformative expectations around AI’s impact on software development, though Masud’s ’let’s see’ suggests healthy skepticism about the timeline.
Our Take
This roundtable reveals a maturation of AI strategy among enterprise leaders, moving beyond hype to pragmatic implementation. The emphasis on process re-engineering before AI deployment is particularly significant—it suggests early AI initiatives have taught expensive lessons about rushing transformation. The blurring of CTO/CIO roles represents more than organizational restructuring; it signals that AI has made technology inseparable from business strategy. Roese’s focus on core competencies rather than horizontal functions like HR demonstrates sophisticated prioritization that many organizations lack. Most telling is the generational tension Masud identifies: enterprises must now compete with consumer AI experiences, fundamentally shifting the power dynamic between IT departments and users. The diversity of personal AI applications—from home automation to medical diagnosis to multilingual travel planning—demonstrates how quickly LLMs have become infrastructure rather than novelty. These executives aren’t debating whether AI matters; they’re navigating the complex reality of enterprise-scale AI transformation with all its technical, cultural, and strategic challenges.
Why This Matters
This roundtable discussion provides critical insights into how AI is transforming enterprise technology leadership at the highest levels across government, Fortune 500 companies, and tech startups. The blurring of CTO and CIO roles signals a fundamental restructuring of how organizations approach technology strategy, moving from traditional IT cycles to R&D-speed innovation. This shift has profound implications for corporate hierarchies, workforce planning, and competitive advantage.
The executives’ emphasis on process re-engineering before AI implementation offers a crucial lesson for organizations rushing to adopt generative AI without strategic planning. Their focus on solving core business problems rather than chasing AI trends provides a roadmap for sustainable AI integration. The generational divide highlighted by Masud—where Gen Z expects consumer-grade AI experiences in enterprise settings—signals coming challenges for organizations with legacy systems.
Most significantly, the discussion reveals that AI adoption is no longer optional for competitive enterprises. From the CIA to Dell to HP, organizations across sectors are fundamentally restructuring around AI capabilities, suggesting that companies failing to adapt risk obsolescence in an increasingly AI-driven business landscape.
Recommended Reading
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