AI is changing the CEO’s role—and could lead to a changing of the guard

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When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in October that he was giving up running the tech company’s commercial businesses, he said that he was doing so to increase his focus on Microsoft’s technology work—and very specifically on AI. Nadella explained that Microsoft’s continued success would depend on equipping customers with new artificial intelligence capabilities to make it “the partner of choice for AI transformation.” 

With that act, the 58-year-old Microsoft chief, whose 12 years in the corner office are an eternity by Fortune 500 standards, was telegraphing that mastery of AI was nonnegotiable. During Nadella’s extremely successful run, shares have risen 11-fold and Microsoft has joined the very tiny club of companies with valuations above $3 trillion. But he won’t remain relevant or effective if he doesn’t stay on top of AI and how it’s changing his industry—and neither, for that matter, will his peers in any industry. 

This new reality is taking shape as several of the most high-profile Silicon Valley CEOs are extending their tenures into their second decades. They include 53-year-old Sundar Pichai (10 years at Google, six heading its more recently formed parent, Alphabet), and Apple’s 65-year-old Tim Cook (14 years as CEO). It’s becoming clearer that AI will play a major role in how much longer these CEOs remain at the top. 

But elsewhere in tech, and across the Fortune 500, such long tenures will likely become increasingly rare—at least during the first waves of the AI boom. Indeed, the numbers are already beginning to shrink. The average global CEO tenure has declined to 7.2 years, below the highs of 8.4 years recorded in 2021 and 2023, according to leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates. (Tech CEO tenures are roughly in line with the cross-industry average.) And that figure will likely continue to drift downward for a few years. The firm surmises that that’s because boards are closely monitoring CEO effectiveness and whether they respond to change with precision and adaptability, considerations AI is bringing to the fore. And those boards are quicker to act if performance lags.

In addition to generating more churn, wider adoption of AI may also shake up the demographics of the CEO pool. Industry observers expect the next wave of CEOs to skew younger, as boards seek leaders who are fluent in AI. And CEOs may also need youth—or at least youthfulness—to help stave off burnout as AI generates a faster rate of change inside their companies. 

It’s certainly not coincidental that longevity and AI success have gone hand in hand in Big Tech. Nadella, who comes from a product background, is blazing a trail and showing other longtime CEOs how to acknowledge and approach the rise of AI: Microsoft’s early investment in OpenAI, and its integration of ChatGPT with its Azure Cloud business, are hallmarks of his tenure.

Pichai, meanwhile, has turned Google from a laggard in generative AI to a major threat to ChatGPT, by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s own admission. Pichai has committed the company to an “AI-first” strategy, placing machine learning at the center of Google’s products, research, and infrastructure and making sure AI is never an afterthought. 

As for Apple, many critics say that under Cook, it has fallen behind in the AI race. Several senior leaders left the company in the fourth quarter of 2025, and there is considerable speculation that Cook may be preparing to step aside. 

Though elder statesmen by the relatively youthful standards of tech, Nadella and Pichai have figured out how to navigate a technology that is changing how business operates. It’s not about pure AI skills a computer scientist might possess, but rather about AI savvy and understanding how AI can help them, and the companies they lead, to compete.

Still, the urgency of CEOs needing AI-oriented sensibilities is hardly limited to tech companies. Indeed, every industry stands to be transformed by AI.

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