IBM Study Reveals AI-First CEOs Scale More Initiatives as Autonomous Decision-Making Set to Nearly Double by 2030

A new IBM CEO study finds that AI-first leaders are scaling more initiatives and driving autonomous decision-making from 25% to a projected 48% by 2030, while 76% now have a Chief AI Officer in place and 82% are already tapping into quantum ecosystems, revealing a widening competitive gap between prepared and unprepared organizations.

• A new IBM CEO study reveals five critical plays for AI-first transformation, showing that CEOs who rethink the C-suite with an AI-first mindset have scaled 10% more AI initiatives enterprise wide, with 76% of CEOs now reporting a Chief AI Officer in place, up from just 26% in 2025.
• CEOs are rapidly accelerating AI-driven decision-making, with 25% of operational decisions currently made by AI without human intervention, expected to nearly double to 48% by 2030, while those who redesign cross-functional collaboration are more than twice as likely to deliver on their business objectives.
• Looking beyond AI, 82% of AI-first CEOs are already engaging partners in quantum ecosystems to prepare for quantum advantage, yet fewer than half of all CEOs have a dedicated team identifying quantum use cases, signaling a major competitive gap forming for organizations that delay preparation.