Sam Altman’s recent comment that AI could one day run OpenAI better than he can sparked plenty of headlines. Less discussed: what it reveals about where executive leadership is actually heading.
We asked our tech experts to weigh in:
Adam Simon, Principal – Private Equity, Software & Fintech | London
Sam Altman says AI will one day run companies better than he can. His backup plan? Farming.
As someone who places CEOs across technology, software and PE portfolios, the real story isn’t about career pivots. It’s about what leadership looks like when the machines get smarter.
The CEO role is already shifting: shorter tenures, rising burnout, and growing pressure to be technically fluent. AI is automating routine judgment, and the best leaders I see aren’t resisting it. They’re learning to work with it.
The next generation of CEOs will be systems thinkers who can orchestrate people and AI, stay self-aware about when to trust data, and anchor decisions in ethics and purpose.
Altman’s comment isn’t about quitting leadership. It’s about redefining it. AI won’t replace the CEO, but those who ignore it might be.
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David Gabriel, Managing Partner, Technology & Software | New York
The question of whether AI will replace CEOs is compelling and complicated in equal measure.
Within the next 5 to 10 years, it’s unlikely AI will master the full scope of what a CEO does: navigating stakeholder complexity, making ethical judgements in uncharted territory, and managing the human social constructs that underpin organisations. Emotional connection still matters. So does accountability. Society expects a human at the top.
But there’s a counterargument worth taking seriously. What if the traits we associate with great leadership (intuition, empathy, vision) are just data patterns we haven’t yet decoded? What if AI can process every ethical framework, every historical outcome, and deliver decisions that optimise for all stakeholders without the fatigue, inconsistency or ego that comes with being human?
It’s going to be messy. Some will push the envelope. Others will resist to the end. And we’re going to live with significant uncertainty whilst both sides claim messianic certainty about what comes next.
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Tony Leng, Managing Partner, Technology & Software, | San Francisco
I don’t believe AI will replace the CEO position.
AI is built on the sum of past and existing knowledge. While the past can predict the future, business breakthroughs often come from products or services that capture the imagination of the marketplace in entirely new ways. Human beings are uniquely creative in thinking up things that don’t yet exist.
If a key CEO skill is creating a vision for an organisation that is entirely new, AI probably can’t replace that. But if the focus is purely optimisation, AI can iterate infinitely faster than we can.
What AI can do for CEOs:
– Optimise routine operations and cut costs
– Test products and react to the marketplace more effectively
– Provide real-time insights into what’s happening
– Run scenario planning based on historical data
– Remove friction and speed everything up
But here’s the problem: if everyone implements AI, the competitive advantage it currently brings will quickly disappear. Then what? How do you create marketplace advantage? I struggle to see how AI can completely reimagine a business or invent products that have never been seen before. Would AI have come up with the iPhone? I’m not convinced.
Lucia Soares of the Carlyle Group recently made two excellent points: AI won’t replace leadership, but it will increasingly manage the friction layers that slow teams down. The job of the leader will be to build the conditions for engagement, creativity, and adoption, while creating the culture, guardrails, and incentives that turn curiosity into capability.
That’s the shift. The role changes, but it doesn’t disappear.
One more thought on Sam Altman’s farming comment: routinised knowledge work is under threat. Junior lawyers, accountants, software engineers who spend years building capabilities that can now be delivered through AI should be paying attention. But someone still needs to fix the drain. Someone still needs to wire the house.
And someone needs to teach AI your culture. If you need that culture transformed, can AI do that work? Or is that something only humans can do?
My hope is that AI takes away the routine aspects of our work and gives us more time to think creatively about how to orchestrate an environment in which people thrive.
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Laurence Maheo, Partner, Technology & Software | France
I agree with Tony. AI can’t replace a CEO for one fundamental reason: leadership is about people.
The key competencies of a successful CEO include strategy, decision-making and financial acumen, but they also require soft skills that can’t be automated. Setting a vision. Inspiring a team to achieve results beyond what they thought possible. Creating a winning spirit. These require human connection.
AI can help with decision-making, track KPIs, automate processes. But it can’t motivate a team. It can’t create impact or embark executives and employees on a journey. Employees are looking for leaders, not algorithms.
Innovation rarely follows a formula. Many breakthrough product ideas are developed informally, shaped by intuition and creativity. Our brains are a superpower that has allowed us to adapt, create and survive for thousands of years. That creativity is uniquely human.
How a CEO shapes company culture is critical to success. I doubt AI can be trusted with that responsibility.
The AI revolution will change the work environment, and collaboration will become even more important. The CEO will play a key role in fostering that mindset. AI will be a tool that allows us to devote more time to higher-value tasks, better management practices, and creating more value for ourselves and the companies we build.
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The Bottom Line
AI will transform the CEO role, but it won’t replace it.
The leaders who thrive in the next decade will be the ones who understand how to orchestrate intelligent systems without losing sight of what still requires human judgment: vision, culture, ethics and the ability to inspire others to follow.
At H.I. Executive Consulting, we’re already seeing this shift in the searches we run. Boards aren’t looking for yesterday’s playbook. They’re looking for next-generation leaders who can think in systems, adapt in real time, and make the hard calls when the algorithms can’t.
That’s not a threat. It’s an evolution. And the executives who see it coming are the ones we’re backing.
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H.I. Executive Consulting specialises in placing transformational leaders across corporate and PE-backed businesses. With 14 global offices and unrestricted access to top talent, we find the executives who can navigate what’s next.