A new global study from Dataiku has found that 86 per cent of Singapore CEOs believe their job is at risk if they fail to deliver measurable business gains from AI by the end of 2026, compared with 80 per cent globally.

The Global AI Confessions Report: CEO Edition, based on a Harris Poll survey of 900 CEOs worldwide including Singapore, found that 89 per cent of Singapore CEOs — versus 87 per cent globally — would stake their job on AI success, even as global confidence in deploying AI agents at scale dropped from 41 per cent to 31 per cent.

Rising risk, falling control

The survey found 95 per cent of CEOs believe at least some employees are using generative AI tools without approval, described as “shadow AI”. Some 78 per cent are concerned about legal exposure from AI agents, while 59 per cent say insufficient AI explainability could trigger a customer trust or brand crisis.

Accountability intensifying faster in Singapore

Among Singapore CIOs, 88 per cent say gaps in traceability or explainability have already delayed or stopped AI projects from reaching production. Some 78 per cent of Singapore CEOs say their involvement in AI decisions has increased, and 83 per cent believe a fellow chief executive will be ousted over a failed AI strategy or crisis.

“CEOs are staking their jobs on AI, but still questioning its outputs and struggling to control the systems they say they own. The companies that close that gap will be the ones building AI worth being accountable for. That is what separates a bet from a business,” said Florian Douetteau, CEO and co-founder of Dataiku.

The survey was conducted by The Harris Poll on Dataiku’s behalf between February and March 2026, among 900 CEOs across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the UAE, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.