Pfft. The hammer will come down IT leadership, not execs.
You nailed it. Ive found that HN users in general have terrible understanding of how power dynamics work. Most seem to want to jam some sort of logic outcome to a situation that always only has one outcome. Those with power decide the outcome.
And that’s why the C-level AI mania is so fascinating - preserving the status quo usually means rejecting or controlling change. But with AI they are embracing something that could eat their status, presumably out of legitimate fear of the alternative.
The status quo is broken. It's a wobbling top. It's no secret; for all they benefit from it, most CEOs know that this isn't sustainable. For better or for worse, change is coming. Perhaps for some, embracing AI is an attempt to get ahead of that.
I think one element is that AI can be a very effective bullshit generator, and most CEOs and middle managers are deploying some amount of bullshit all day long. So they see a new player on the field who undercuts their strengths and they are responding existentially.