CAIO

• Sets your AI strategy: which parts of the business AI should help with first, and why.
• Decides which work goes to agents, which models and tools they use, and the rules they run under.
• Leads agent engineering with the forward deployed engineer: the design, building, testing and release of each agent.
• Sets AI governance: who can use which tools, what data agents may touch, and which steps need a person's approval.
• Builds evaluations that check agent output against your standards before and after each change.
• Measures results against a baseline agreed with you, and reports what changed.
• Manages AI vendors and the cost of model usage.
• Reports to you each week in plain words: what the agents did, what they cost and what needs your decision.

Your ace starts with an intake: interviews with you and the people who do the work, a review of the tools and data you already have, and a study of how the customers, rules and risks of your industry limit where AI can help. The result is a written map of the work, with a baseline for each workflow, that your ace keeps current and the agents work from.

A forward deployed engineer works under your ace to build the agents, connect them to your systems and data, and keep them running. Your ace decides what the agents do and the rules they follow, and reviews what ships.

• Evaluation runs that test each agent against examples you approved, before every change.
• A weekly report on agent output, errors caught in review and model usage cost.
• Reviews of new AI tools and models drafted for your ace to decide on.
• Usage and access checks against your AI policy, with gaps sent to a person.
• Updates to your AI policy and team guidance drafted for your ace to review.

The goal is a business that can grow with the team you already have. Routine work moves to agents, and the people who did it are positioned to oversee several agents each. Decisions about your team stay with you.