As artificial intelligence deployment becomes a strategic priority for companies, the explicit mention of “AI” is beginning to appear in executive job titles — raising the question of which department should ultimately own responsibility for such a disruptive technology.
In an early-year discussion about recruitment trends, Charles Parent, Director of Client Experience at recruiting firm Sourcinc, revealed that his company had received headhunting mandates for “AI Directors” at large organizations — in sectors including finance, food and agriculture, and manufacturing.
“When we do our sourcing, that candidate pool doesn’t really exist yet. Very few people in Québec carry that label or title in a leadership role,” he observes.
The landscape could change quickly. The recruiter predicts that corporate AI adoption will give rise to a new wave of job titles, each requiring a distinct set of skills.
“AI is no longer just a functional tool,” he explains. “It’s becoming central to organizational strategy. We’re looking for profiles that come more from a consulting background — people who become AI champions by driving a project across an entire organization. These individuals are going to become strategic fixtures on the org chart. That’s why we’re seeing AI Director roles emerge, when they simply didn’t exist five years ago.”
The convergence of AI and HR
At its core, generative AI is inherently embedded in a company’s human processes — it’s placed in employees’ hands to help them work faster, whether by accessing information or helping produce it. It therefore makes a certain sense to see a convergence between the IT department, which deploys AI, and the HR department, which looks after the people. In 2025, pharmaceutical company Moderna merged its IT and HR departments under the leadership of Tracey Franklin.
“Merging HR and digital is not just a matter of consolidation — it’s a deliberate decision aimed at bridging the gap between those who shape culture and those who build the systems that support it,” the executive explained to Unleash magazine.
Should this be read as the beginning of a trend? We put the question to Jean-Baptiste Audrerie, President of Nexa RH and a specialist in HR technology issues.
“Is the future of HR a combined HR-IT department? I don’t think so. But should HR work much more closely with IT, and at IT’s pace? The answer is obviously yes. When a company merges its IT and HR functions, I think it’s a way of sending a signal. In Moderna’s case, I see it more as an organizational announcement — a way of saying: we want to accelerate AI adoption,” he shares.
Audrerie points out that AI and data governance touch virtually every facet of a business — finance, operations, and yes, HR.
“AI raises issues around regulation, usage, individual accountability, ethics, and the environment,” he notes. “It’s much broader than just the IT or finance department. The different departments need to work together far more closely.”
It will be interesting to see where the “AI” label lands in the C-suite. Will organizations prefer “augmented” titles — CEO-AI, CFO-AI, COO-AI, CHRO-AI — or concentrate responsibility in a single strategic role: the CAIO, or Chief AI Officer? The answer may well appear in updated LinkedIn profiles over the coming months.
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