About this guide

Contents

1. Who it is for
2. How it is made
3. Ownership
4. Corrections

Pages that rank for "fractional chief AI officer" are mostly written by the people selling the service. They describe the role in general terms, rarely state a time commitment or a price, and almost never say when a buyer should choose someone else. This guide compares the providers on the same published criteria and shows where every fact came from.

Who it is for

Chief executives, founders, finance directors and boards at established companies, usually between 100 and 2,000 people, who have AI in use but no one who owns it. We assume the reader knows the business far better than any adviser and wants a clear basis for a decision, not a sales conversation.

How it is made

Every provider profile is built from the provider's own published pages, reputable press coverage and official sources such as government guidance and labour statistics. Every fact is numbered against a source and the day we read it. Providers are compared on seven criteria that are set out, with the ranking frame, on the methodology page.

We update the main guide at least once a quarter and whenever a provider changes its offer. Each page carries its last-updated date and a brief record of what changed.

Ownership

OpenLazarus, whose AI-Architect engagement is one of the services reviewed, owns this site. OpenLazarus is ranked first for one stated situation, a company that wants a year of AI direction to end in systems that run, and its limits are listed as plainly as every other provider's. The frame behind that ranking is set out on the methodology page.

Corrections

Readers who find an error or disagree with a ranking can write to us. Confirmed errors are fixed promptly and noted on the page.

Further reading

• Guide · First 90 daysThe first 90 days of a fractional chief AI officerThe first three months decide whether a fractional AI leader changes how the company works or produces a document nobody opens. Here is what each month should deliver, and how to check.
• Guide · CostWhat a fractional chief AI officer costs, compared with a full-time hireNone of the providers we reviewed publishes a fee for the leadership role. These are the best sourced benchmarks available, a worked comparison with a full-time hire and the costs that sit outside the retainer.
• Guide · The roleWhat a fractional chief AI officer does, and what the role is notA fractional CAIO is a part-time executive, not a project. Here is what the job covers, drawn from how providers and US federal guidance define it, and how to tell whether your company needs one.