The answer is clear. Even if boards should not directly interfere in executive operations, recruitment automation and talent intelligence platforms do belong on their agenda. “From a governance perspective, boards should be asking the CEO: what’s being done in the business, and does that pose a risk? And strategically, how can we streamline processes and get better hires? Not meddling, but making sure that the CEO is across that,” says Jamal Khan, Managing Partner of Amrop Carmichael Fisher in Australia. Despite a counter-shift under the current US administration, DE&I is being upheld in many markets. “Firms need to look at recruitment biases, and the risks attached.”

“Beyond recruitment, there's privacy, data protection, cybersecurity. We're seeing a massive uptick from chairs, nomination, governance and HR committees around reviewing the board’s skills matrix. A lot of demand for people with AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation experience.”

What is the future of C-suite recruitment with AI? Costa Tzavaras sees two scenarios. “In one scenario, society continues to put organic human authenticity front and center, even if a candidate uses AI in preparatory phases, as now. The other sees the advent of the AI avatar. It knows my brain and my preferences, my thinking and answers, and we accept that.” This begs the question: “What does it mean to be authentic?” Avatars would need coherent data to replicate a human. “If a person is extremely consistent during their entire life you will be able to re-create them with an AI. This is the beauty of humans,” says Oana Ciornei. “It's another form of knowledge transfer."

Could we imagine an organization entirely populated by AIs, with empty boardrooms? Mikael Norr thinks not. "Companies where everyone, including the CEO, the chairman of the board and the whole management team, is an AI robot? The human touch is super important.”

In this series, we’ve stressed the importance of the live interview in global executive recruitment. Whilst Amrop Partners agree that the human remains its ultimate guardian, the machine could potentially play a bigger role. “There could be one robot avatar on the candidate side and two on the agent side, with people to support," muses Job Voorhoeve. "Would we put those three together to discuss with each other, and watch the exchange? The key issue will then be around eliminating hallucination and assuring high quality modeling and simulation cases.”

Stepping out from behind the screen will nonetheless remain invaluable in executive hiring, says Costa Tzavaras. “It removes the risk around AI: now we're going to speak human to human, brain to brain.” For Jamal Khan, AI is a long way from replacing executive search professionals. He admits that recruitment markets dealing in purely operational or technical skills are “rife for disruption, and you could automate pretty much the whole process.” But senior hiring is different. “You’re still going to need the relationship, judgment about cultural fit, the meet and the greet, areas to probe.” He hopes AI can eliminate the more pedestrian aspects of his job, with even live interviewing limited to the final candidates. “It’s just expediting the process. It should make things quicker, with more data and insights.”

Oana Ciornei reminds us that scrutiny cuts both ways. Not only should CEOs be assessed, they must also be allowed to gain a live sense of a hiring organization - its people and environment. Job Voorhoeve returns to their online visibility. The best executives, already elusive, will become reclusive. “The really talented people will make sure you cannot touch them. Your own data will need to be much better protected. So contact will be increasingly based on reputation. That will be the most important thing.”

From smart to wise, reasonable to responsible

“Many people want the silver bullet and hope AI will be that, but it's not so easy,” says Mikael Norr. “And meanwhile, we need to carry on with what we do together, help each other, and be inclusive and caring. And that is probably even more important today.”

On a final note, let’s recall Amrop’s core premise: ethical, ecological and societal challenges call for leaders who are not just accomplished and smart, but wise. AI should not only create and capture economic value, but create more sustainable and legitimate organizations. Wise leadership acknowledges its qualities, whilst emphasizing human gifts. Not attempting to compete with computers, but developing people's creativity, discernment, fairness and social collaboration. Safeguarding a holistic vision of the future.