AI failures put 86% of Singapore CEOs' jobs at risk

CEOs are still cautious about allowing AI to make decisions without human approval.

More than eight in 10 Singapore CEOs believe their jobs are on the line if their artificial intelligence (AI) strategies fail, as executives face mounting pressure to deliver measurable returns from AI investments, according to a new global study by Dataiku.

The Global AI Confessions Report: CEO Edition 2026, based on a Harris Poll survey of 900 CEOs, found that 86% of Singapore CEOs believe their role is at risk if they fail to deliver business gains from AI by the end of 2026, compared with 80% globally. Meanwhile, 83% expect a fellow CEO to lose their job due to a failed AI strategy or AI-related crisis.

The findings suggest AI has become a board-level accountability issue rather than simply a technology initiative. Whilst 62% of Singapore CEOs ranked AI strategy as a high or top business priority, only 13% identified it as their single highest priority.

Despite the stakes, the report found that CEOs remain cautious about handing over decision-making to AI despite increasing adoption. Although 89% of Singapore CEOs said they would stake their job on the success of AI initiatives, one-third said they would not allow AI to make decisions without human approval.

Governance also remains a key concern. About 95% of Singapore CEOs believe employees are using generative AI tools without approval, whilst 78% expressed concerns that AI agents could create legal risks. Another 59% warned that poor explainability could trigger a customer trust or brand crisis.

Executive oversight of AI has also intensified. Around 78% of Singapore CEOs said their involvement in AI-related decisions has increased, whilst 59% participate in most AI decisions. However, nearly two-thirds said they challenged AI vendor or platform decisions made by their CIO or other executives over the past year, highlighting the growing scrutiny of enterprise AI investments.

Despite strong confidence in AI deployment, implementation challenges persist. Whilst 81% of Singapore CEOs believe they will be able to deploy AI agents at full scale this year, 88% of CIOs said gaps in explainability and traceability have already delayed or prevented AI projects from reaching production.

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