No, Your Next CEO Won't Be the Artificial Intelligence

Every few weeks, I see someone predicting that the next CEO will be a machine. The article always comes with a generic image: a robot in a suit staring at charts, as if it just discovered Wall Street. And honestly, I can’t help but smile.

Not because the idea is clever, but because there is this belief that with enough algorithms and faster servers, leadership can be automated. That one day we’ll swap the messy human at the top for a clean and rational system.

And then I remember what neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis has said many times: the human brain is not computable.

Not “not yet.”

Not “someday.”

Simply not computable.

That matters. Because a machine calculates, but the brain feels. A machine processes data, but a human interprets signals. And those signals don’t stand alone. They come shaped by the body, by culture, by memory, by fear of what could go wrong, and by hope that something might go right.

CEO is a Computable by Artificial Intelligence Job

Now, picture the real life of a CEO. A tense team in a room, sales falling, people worried about layoffs.

What would AI do? Probably say: “Optimizing workforce.” In other words, “you’re all fired.” That is what happens when you try to replace vulnerability with calculation.

Because leading is intuition for what cannot be seen, it is patience with the unfinished. It is wrestling with moral dilemmas that never have perfect answers. And above all, it is dealing with people who don’t act like machines. Anyone who has led knows.

Logic is useful, but never enough.

And here is what people forget. We follow leaders, not algorithms. We follow because we trust. And trust does not grow out of efficiency. It grows out of human contact, out of mistakes admitted, out of the courage to stand up again after falling. A machine might simulate empathy. But would you trust something that never fails, never regrets, never looks you in the eye with fear or with courage?

Of course, AI will have a role. It will sit next to the CEO, helping to see scenarios, predict risks, and accelerate analysis.

That is already happening.

What will not happen is an algorithm stepping into the symbolic and emotional space of leadership. Because leadership is not just a function, it is a bond.

And there is still the practical side that futurists skip. Who takes the blame when AI makes the wrong call? Who stands in front of the press and says, “The responsibility is mine”? Who faces the employees when the cuts come?

Funny how that part never shows up in the futuristic slides. Because everyone knows responsibility cannot be programmed.

Maybe this is the greater risk. Not AI becoming CEO. But CEOs are hiding behind AI. “The model suggested.” “The algorithm recommended.” Which really means: “Don’t blame me.” In that scenario, it is not the machine that kills leadership. It is the human who abandons it.

And so I return to Nicolelis. If the brain cannot be computed, then leadership cannot be computed.

The next CEO will remain human. Perhaps more analytical, more assisted by technology, more obsessed with data. But still human.

Because only a human can feel the weight of a decision, learn from a mistake, and look another person in the eye after a hard choice.

And if one day someone tells you that AI would make a better CEO, I’d ask one simple question back. Better for whom?

I am incredibly grateful that you have taken the time to read this post.

Please, check my premium newsletters:

Please also check my Book Notes.

I was hoping you could support my work by sharing my content with your network using the sharing buttons below.

Want to show your support and appreciation tangibly?

Creating these posts takes time, effort, and lots of coffee, but it’s totally worth it!

If you’d like to show some support and help keep me energized for the next one, buying me a virtual coffee is a simple (and friendly!) way to do it.

Do you want to get new content in your Email?

Do you want to check previous Book Notes?

Do you want to check previous Articles?

Check my main categories of content below: