Agility, not big bets, key in AI age: Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat

Ezzat's comments come as boards wrestle with AI FOMO and large capital expenditure implications, with outcomes that are shrouded in mystery. He compares the current moment to the metaverse hype, which Capgemini itself experimented with through a metaverse lab, and suggests agility—small tests and pilots—is a better approach than waiting for clarity.

His argument that AI is a business, not a technology, challenges firms that view it primarily as a way to make separate divisions more efficient. He says that approach is a start but not a whole-enterprise strategy that connects data and operations across functions like finance, HR, procurement and supply chains.

Ezzat also pushes back on the phrase "human in the loop," favoring "human in the lead" and "human-centricity," an idea he traces to the 1950s ergonomics movement. The stakes, as he suggests, are higher than bad office chairs: getting AI-human integration wrong could be far more consequential than a bad back, though whether his pilot-first approach proves sufficient hinges on how quickly adoption accelerates.