There tend to be more tech-specific C-suite roles than in any other single area of the company, but more executives don’t automatically make the massive job of governing, regulating, upgrading, protecting and innovating with tech and data any easier. A quarter of respondents said they have a tough time keeping clearly defined responsibilities straight. Top priorities for the coming year also don’t necessarily fit in any one executive’s purview. About 36% ranked security as a top priority, which is often seen as the CISO’s responsibility. But the other top priorities—reducing operational or product costs and increasing value, expanding into new markets or segments, and attracting and engaging customers—straddle many positions.

And of course, many companies are working toward an AI transition. Not only do AI functions cross into many different tech areas (especially because many companies might not have a chief AI officer), but the skills for AI are lacking. About 45% say the inability to get people with the right skills is the biggest obstacle to bringing in AI—something that seven in 10 say is likely to add to the company’s tech headcount. 

This is an unconventional barricade for tech leaders. The leadership positions are there, but duties are unclear, priorities are all over the map, and talent for improvement is lacking. It’s time for companies and tech leaders to work more on their roles internally. Delineate exact policies and responsibilities for different executives, and decide what structure is best for company needs. Work on upskilling existing employees. And keep an eye to what skills and capabilities are needed for the long term. 

While cybersecurity is traditionally the domain of the CISO, the nature of attacks and vulnerabilities today means that everyone needs to have some understanding and responsibility for it. But it can be tough to bridge the communication gap between technical CISOs and other employees. Sameer Ansari, global security and privacy lead at consulting firm Protiviti, gave me some strategies to do that well. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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“America is the country that started the AI race. And as president of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it,” Trump said at a Wednesday evening event in Washington, D.C. “We’re going to work hard, we’re going to win it because we will not allow any foreign nation to beat us.”

The particulars of the new policy and its parameters—or lack thereof—are not surprising, given Trump’s well-known disdain for regulation. At the beginning of his plan: “Remove red tape and onerous regulation.” The technology, the plan says, is “far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage, whether at the state or federal level.” The plan doesn’t say what kind of AI use might be considered out of line—there are no mentions of protecting secure infrastructure systems, privacy or copyrights. But it directs the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, which helps organizations to minimize risks when implementing AI, to eliminate references to misinformation, DEI and climate change.

In his remarks, Trump did speak out against copyright protections for content used to train AI models. “You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book, or anything else that you’ve read or studied, you’re supposed to pay for,” he said. This issue is one of the biggest pending legal matters today around AI. Many publishers, including Forbes, have sued AI companies, accusing them of copyright infringement for unauthorized use of content.

Two AI industry leaders—Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su—attended Wednesday’s event and praised Trump’s plan, the Wall Street Journal reported. “For the U.S. to lead in AI, we have to run fast, and the AI action plan is a great way of just laying out all the various pieces that will be helpful for us to run fast,” Su told the Journal.

“This is all possible because of the long-term investments we have made in our differentiated full-stack approach to AI,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call. “This spans AI infrastructure, world-class research, models and tooling, and our products and platforms that bring AI to people all over the world.”

Pichai said the company is increasing its investment in AI infrastructure this year by $10 billion, bringing the total to $85 billion. The dollars going toward infrastructure is planning ahead, he said, working to meet future demand trends.

But analysts are tempering Alphabet’s success both in the present and future with the outcome of a pending court ruling. The company was found to have held an illegal monopoly in search, and a federal judge is expected to issue a ruling on how to remedy the situation next month. The government has asked the court to force Google to sell its Chrome browser and share its search results data—two actions that could have deep consequences for the company’s revenues going forward.

Many tech companies are adding AI agents to their software, but customers are slow to start using them. The reasons are many. They’re new ideas, but they can also do unintended actions. Here’s how to manage new AI agents so that they earn your company’s trust and do what they’re meant to.