Media Feature
OneDigital Leaders on Balancing AI Speed and Safety
In TechTarget, OneDigital’s Mike Sullivan and Vinay Gidwaney say CIOs must move fast on AI skills and competitive threats while owning their AI capabilities.
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Article Summary
TechTarget asked CEOs, founders, and business leaders where they want their CIOs to accelerate AI adoption and where they want restraint. Mike Sullivan, OneDigital’s co-founder and chief growth officer, says the threat of AI-native competitors means CIOs must move faster than may feel comfortable. Vinay Gidwaney, OneDigital’s chief product officer, urges CIOs to build AI expertise within their own teams rather than hand control to a single vendor.
CEOs want faster results from AI, but moving too quickly carries its own risks.
A recent TechTarget article explores where business leaders want their CIOs to accelerate and where they want them to be careful, and features perspectives from OneDigital co-founder and chief growth officer Mike Sullivan and chief product officer Vinay Gidwaney.
The pressure is building even as many companies are still searching for returns. According to Gartner survey findings cited in the piece, only 13% of CIOs say their enterprise has realized significant or transformational value from AI.
Moving Fast Without Losing Control
Sullivan told TechTarget that security must always be a top concern, but that in OneDigital’s industry, AI is also viewed as a competitive threat. An AI-native firm approaching clients with a lower-cost alternative is a real possibility, he said, which means CIOs have to find a middle ground between safety and speed. It is a skill, he noted, that CIOs have never before been asked to build.
“We need to move faster than we’re comfortable with.”
Gidwaney focused on capability and dependence. He said CIOs need to move faster on building AI skills within their IT teams, including familiarity with large language models, agentic AI, and the broader technology stack. At the same time, he cautioned against treating an AI provider like a traditional software suite and handing over the keys, since companies should retain ownership of their intelligence. He also framed access to AI as a supply chain issue, one that will eventually expose every business to the price of intelligence, and said CIOs are the linchpin in managing it.
Other leaders in the article echoed the theme: experiment freely, train people quickly, automate repetitive internal work, and keep humans involved when AI touches customers, money, or published information.
Read the full article here: CIOs walk AI tightrope as CEOs demand innovation
To learn more about OneDigital’s approach to AI for its business and clients, visit AI, Technology and Innovation at OneDigital