Access to tools, not training, is stifling AI value
Europe’s AI ambitions are stalling, but not due to a skills gap. Limited access to tools and outdated work design are holding companies back....
Artificial Intelligence
Can leadership be delegated to a digital self?
IMD’s Michael Watkins asks why companies are beginning to create AI avatars of their CEOs – and where it could lead.
Rapid read:
- Bringing greater AI influence to bear on the role also makes CEOs more vulnerable to the negative effects of some AI tools.
- Saturating social media with AI-generated avatars of CEOs risks distancing stakeholders and the wider public from the actual human expertise of the CEO.
- CEOs should be stringent in controlling access to their avatar, with a watertight sign-off process.
AI interlopers
In a clip that Klarna CMO David Sandstrom posted to LinkedIn in 2025, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski delivers a piece to camera about Klarna’s Q3 results. Or does he? The man on camera looks and talks like Siemiatkowski.
To a casual viewer focusing on the detail rather than the delivery, nothing would seem amiss. But looking closely, the video has a slightly uncanny feel, as if we are looking at Siemiatkowski’s face from two different angles at once.
Further scrutiny gives rise to the suspicion that he is repeating a limited range of facial expressions in sequence.
And there is one more clue that all is not as it seems: the caption that reads: “For the first time, Klarna’s Q3 update is presented by an AI-generated version of Sebastian Siemiatkowski. This is how AI transforms not just what we do, but how we do it.”
Klarna is not alone in putting up an AI avatar of its leader in the public realm. Meta has hatched its own plans for an AI avatar of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which he is reportedly hoping to use to interact with staff to improve engagement.
And Zuckerberg has taken the idea one step further: he is reported to be building an AI assistant, ushering in a future where AI agents could perform core CEO tasks.
Klarna’s video is grabbing attention. At time of writing, the post had 1,290 likes. And this has been achieved without Siemiatkowski having to spend time recording the video. But not all reactions have been positive.
Comments underneath the post question how much – if any – time was saved by creating a digital doppelgänger of the CEO. Some also express concerns about gimmickry and even video fraud. So, do the positives outweigh the negative fallout? And what would a wave of CEO AI avatars mean for the future business world?
The risks of imitation
The immediate worry is reputational. To facilitate the creation of their avatar, the CEO must effectively surrender their likeness to an in-house tech team, or for those without in-house capability, an external partner.
For such a delicate and personal operation, strong guardrails are essential. CEOs should be stringent in controlling access to their avatar, with a watertight sign-off process.
They will also want to retain firm oversight of their avatars’ output, as poorly worded statements or dreaded AI hallucinations could tarnish hard-won human reputations. Even if the audience (for example, the company’s employees) know that they are looking at an avatar, they will consider it to represent the views and attitudes of the real person it resembles.
Can you trust an avatar?
Another, more insidious, consequence of using an AI-generated likeness of a leader is the erosion of belief in the CEO themselves.
Saturating social media with AI-generated avatars of CEOs risks distancing stakeholders and the wider public from the actual human expertise of the CEO; the strategic experience, communications skill and charisma which marks out someone fit for leadership.
Eventually, the workforce will feel distanced and less inspired by their actual human CEO, potentially devaluing the role, first within and eventually outside of the company.
Moreover, using an AI avatar for some interactions and not others creates a two-tier system. Who gets to interact with the CEO and who gets the avatar? Those who can’t get past the AI version may come to resent both it and the individual it represents.
Could we ultimately replace CEOs with AI entirely?
Consequences for the CEO
Beyond the reputational consequences, what could AI avatars mean for the CEO? Over half (55%) of surveyed CEOs in one survey say they have felt lonely in the role. Handing off much of their public-facing duties to AI could free up time to spend with their teams.
But equally, delegating people-focused activities could mean the CEO spends even more time alone.
Bringing greater AI influence to bear on the role also makes CEOs more vulnerable to the negative effects of some AI tools. There is already some evidence of skills atrophy in junior workers when employees use large language models (LLMs).
If AI avatars take over the tasks that demand the soft skills essential to the CEO role, for example in interactions with stakeholders or presenting results, the real CEO may suffer both a diminution of those skills and the negative psychological effects of feeling dispensable.
This leads us to the question, could we ultimately replace CEOs with AI entirely? A little unnervingly, one company in China has already answered in the affirmative. What’s more, it has outperformed the market in the six months since making the “appointment.”
While the world is watching a digital version of their faces, CEOs may need to watch their backs.
Authors
Related
IMD AI Safety Clock moves to 15 minutes to midnight as AI risks accelerate
The AI Safety Clock enters the critical risk zone as autonomous agents gain authority, military AI expands, and AGI-related risks accelerate....
AI leaders are pulling the safety alarm. Here's what that means for business leaders
Amid warnings from industry insiders that AI will soon outpace human control, IMD's experts break down where business leaders should be focusing their attention....
Six new AI imperatives for every CEO and Board
Record CEO turnover, fractured geopolitics, and an AI transition that most companies are failing to profit from require a fundamental shift in the ways we lead and govern. Here is how to...
Learn Brain Circuits
Join us for daily exercises focusing on issues from team building to developing an actionable sustainability plan to personal development. Go on - they only take five minutes.
Explore Leadership
What makes a great leader? Do you need charisma? How do you inspire your team? Our experts offer actionable insights through first-person narratives, behind-the-scenes interviews and The Help Desk.
Join Membership
Log in here to join in the conversation with the I by IMD community. Your subscription grants you access to the quarterly magazine plus daily articles, videos, podcasts and learning exercises.