Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly redefining the role of chief technology officers (CTOs) in India, expanding their responsibilities beyond technology management to include workforce transformation, organisational strategy and business innovation, according to new research by LinkedIn.
The professional networking platform found that 93 per cent of Indian CTOs now see helping organisations adapt to future ways of working as a core part of their role, highlighting how AI has elevated technology leaders to key business decision-makers.
The transition is happening quickly. Around 84 per cent of CTOs said their role is being actively redefined in real time, while 79 per cent said they have taken on responsibilities that were not part of their remit just a year ago. Nearly eight in ten respondents also said their role is evolving faster than their organisations can make decisions, underscoring the pace at which companies are adopting AI.
The study found that balancing long-term AI transformation with short-term business performance has become one of the biggest leadership challenges for Indian CTOs, with 56 per cent identifying it as a key concern.
AI adoption
“As AI adoption moves from experimentation to scale, success depends as much on people as it does on technology,” said Malai Lakshmanan, Head of India Engineering at LinkedIn. “The organisations that create the most value from AI will be those that invest as heavily in workforce readiness and continuous learning as they do in technology.”
The report also highlights the growing importance of collaboration between technology and human resources leaders. About 51 per cent of CTOs said stronger partnerships with chief human resources officers (CHROs) are the single most critical factor in building an AI-enabled workforce, while 89 per cent said they already work closely with their HR counterparts.
Continuous learning is emerging as a central pillar of AI adoption, with 92 per cent of CTOs saying ongoing skill-building is essential to keep pace with technological change.
The changing landscape is also creating new career opportunities. Nearly four in five (79 per cent) CTOs said AI is giving rise to entirely new roles that did not exist a few years ago, reflecting the growing demand for positions such as Prompt Engineer and AI
Engineer as organisations accelerate their AI strategies.