As boards push for AI wins, CIOs are studying that making an attempt to shoulder each duty themselves is a quick path to burnout.
Nina Tatsiy, CIO at Quadient, confronted that actuality after taking the highest expertise position final yr on the enterprise automation software program supplier.
“I spotted once I began the job, I used to be working 20 hours a day … as a result of I needed to do all of it, together with AI,” Tatsiy informed InformationWeek. “It is, in fact, not sustainable.”
Burnout in IT management isn’t new. The CISO position, for instance, has lengthy carried that danger; in line with Proofpoint’s 2025 Voice of the CISO report, 63% of the responding CISOs stated they skilled or noticed burnout throughout the earlier yr.
As CIOs grapple with the calls for of AI adoption and AI’s speedy evolution, they might face related dangers.
CIOs beneath stress
CIOs are typically captivated with new expertise, however AI — arguably the closest that expertise has come to mimicking human intelligence — brings a singular set of challenges:
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A nonetheless unclear path to ROI after thousands and thousands to billions spent by corporations.
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Stakeholder expectations for enterprise transformation by way of AI.
IBM’s 2026 Tech Chief Examine elucidates the stress that CIOs face as they attempt to guide AI from pilot tasks to enterprise-wide manufacturing. Simply 11% of the two,000 C-suite expertise leaders surveyed stated that they’re ready for the AI agent deployment deliberate over the following yr. Plus, 77% of organizations surveyed reported that governance is lagging. Regardless of not having full management over methods, two-thirds of expertise leaders stated they’re answerable for the outcomes of these methods.
After which there’s the monetary factor of CIO management. AI spending is ballooning, but 84% of expertise leaders surveyed by IBM stated they haven’t totally operationalized AI monetary administration, and 85% stated they don’t have full visibility into real-time spending on AI.
The trail to burnout
Within the race to embrace AI, CIOs could also be pushing themselves and their groups arduous, however Jean-Philippe Avelange, CIO at managed community providers supplier Expereo, chalks up the chance to a problem that extends past workload points.
“There’s plenty of work that may be accomplished — however that is not what burns out an IT division or CIOs,” he stated. “It is the mismatch with the expectations.”
If the hole between what boards and C-suites count on from CIOs and actuality can’t be bridged, the chance of burnout is excessive, he stated.
He stated CIO burnout has a multiplier impact throughout the group. Burnt-out staff anxious about their jobs being reshaped — or eradicated — by AI could make it troublesome for the group to comprehend the advantages of the expertise.
“FOBO — the worry of turning into out of date — is now a part of the office jargon,” stated Stacey Cadigan, associate at Info Companies Group, noting that the nervousness threatens to erode the positive aspects organizations wish to obtain with AI.
“The anticipated productiveness enhancements could be inconceivable to attain if the workforce is disengaged, shaken and depleted by the transition to AI,” she stated.
A path to achievement as a substitute of AI oblivion
In line with Tatsiy, CIOs ought to embrace the truth that they can not repair each problem that arises as their organizations work to take advantage of out of AI.
“You would not be taught all of it, and you shouldn’t be taught all of it. You must … protect your abilities as a human managing this area,” she stated.
Comfortable abilities: “Creativity, understanding folks and understanding enterprise targets is much extra vital for the CIOs I feel, than understanding each nitty-gritty [detail] of the expertise on the market,” Tatsiy stated.
New group constructions and upskilling: To be able to meet the brand new calls for on IT, Tatsiy advisable CIOs deal with upskilling present group members and making strategic hires, noting that CIOs “undoubtedly have to vary the form and construction of the group to accommodate this shift in expertise and the methods of working.”
Handle expectations: As CIOs construct their groups and work out how you can be these brokers of change inside their enterprises, they might want to discover methods to speak with different executives and their boards concerning the strategic choices they make.
“CIOs have to handle expectations, quite than making an attempt to run behind making an attempt to ship and to please everybody,” Avelange stated.
Everybody wants a stress aid valve
As all-consuming as AI will be, “all work, on a regular basis” is unsustainable. If CIOs are going to keep away from burning out now or later, they should carve out time for different features of their lives.
“I want to seek out that one hour a day once I’m not fascinated about work, which may be very arduous,” Tatsiy stated. “Train or go for a stroll … in any other case, you’ll not be actually helpful to your self or your loved ones or work.”
CIOs can higher handle the chance of burnout by surrounding themselves with the correct folks and prioritizing their time, however in addition they want structural help from their enterprises.
“The organizations that actually are going to scale back a number of the management fatigue and most successfully have the ability to deal with a number of the burnout are those that may actually put money into redesigning their AI governance,” Cadigan stated. Shared accountability for AI outcomes and early critiques of working fashions will be more practical than always placing stress on CIOs alone.
