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AI Champions / AI Ambassadors

Purpose​

AI Champions are representatives of business units who understand AI's possibilities and help identify tasks suitable for automation and intelligent processing. They are the link between the business and the AI Office.

Role in the conveyor​

AI Champions take part in the early stages of the conveyor: idea generation and use case formalization. They are not responsible for delivery, but they are critical to the quality of the incoming flow of initiatives.

Core functions:

  • Surfacing ideas — finding problems and tasks in their unit that can be solved with AI
  • Formalizing the use case — helping describe the business process, the problem, and the expected impact at the initiative intake stage
  • Communication — translating AI's possibilities into business terms; relaying feedback from the business to the AI Office
  • Promoting AI literacy — raising colleagues' awareness of AI's possibilities and limitations
  • Participating in assessment — providing expert opinion when prioritizing initiatives from their unit

Selection criteria​

AI Champions are selected from among business-unit employees based on the following criteria:

  • Domain expertise — deep knowledge of their unit's processes and metrics
  • Interest in AI and technology — willingness to learn new tools and approaches
  • Communication skills — the ability to work with both technical and business teams
  • Authority within the unit — influence over colleagues and the ability to drive change

Typical coverage: 1–2 AI Champions per large business unit.

Support from the AI Office​

The AI Office provides Champions with the resources they need:

  • Training programs: AI/ML fundamentals, the organization's AI products, the initiative submission process
  • Regular meetings (monthly): sharing experience, reviewing new cases, feedback
  • Templates and tools for describing use cases
  • Access to the catalog of delivered initiatives and their results
  • A dedicated contact in the AI Office for consultations

What AI Champions do not do​

  • They do not manage initiative delivery
  • They do not make stage gate decisions
  • They do not replace the Initiative Owner — but they can be the source of an idea that the owner then takes on
  • They do not carry a KPI for the number of submitted initiatives (this leads to lower quality)