Sol Rashidi is an American technology executive known for her work in enterprise artificial intelligence and data leadership, having held chief data and analytics officer roles at major corporations before moving into strategy and advisory positions focused on AI governance and adoption. She currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer for AI and Data at Cyera, a data security company, where she works on frameworks for scaling artificial intelligence within organizations in a manner that is secure, governed, and trusted [1][5]. In connection with this role, she has helped produce guidance for executives on implementing AI responsibly, arguing that in the current environment speed without adequate safeguards amounts to a liability rather than a form of leadership [2].
Rashidi has built her professional identity around a distinction she draws between "using AI" and "doing AI." She argues that many enterprises mistake the purchase of tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude for genuine transformation, when in fact simply layering these tools onto existing workflows rarely produces the productivity gains organizations expect [3]. In her view, meaningful value from artificial intelligence requires decomposing a role or workflow into its constituent tasks and then applying judgment about which elements should remain human-led and which can be handed to machines, a process she says most companies lack the patience, focus, or funding to complete properly [3]. She has cautioned that pursuing speed and efficiency without this deeper redesign risks only making flawed decisions more quickly [3].
On the question of who should lead this redesign, Rashidi has said that relying solely on the incumbent workforce responsible for a given process is often insufficient, since employees who have performed a task for many years can be resistant to reimagining it, partly out of concern that doing so could eventually displace their own role [3]. Using procurement as an example, she has described a method in which internal customers of a function, rather than the function's own team, are surveyed about pain points and service levels, with the resulting feedback then handed to business process specialists who redesign the workflow and determine which parts remain human-led [3].
Beyond enterprise implementation, Rashidi has raised concerns about the cognitive effects of heavy reliance on AI, particularly among younger users. She has cited a claim that a majority of teenagers use ChatGPT for personal advice on relationships and struggles, and has warned that reliance on AI for tasks such as navigation illustrates a broader pattern of "codependency on technology" that can be more consequential for children whose reasoning faculties are still developing [3]. She uses the term "intellectual atrophy" to describe the risk that critical thinking and discernment may weaken if they are not regularly exercised, a concern she has extended into broader commentary on AI risk and human dependency [3][4].
Insights & ideas
Sol Rashidi draws a sharp line between "using AI," which means bolting tools like ChatGPT or Gemini onto an existing tech stack, and "doing AI," which means decomposing a role, function, or workflow into tasks and subtasks and applying discernment about what should remain human-led versus what can be outsourced to machines [1]. She argues that most companies chase speed and productivity without the patience, focus, or funding required for this deeper redesign work, and warns that using AI merely to do "dumb things faster" or make bad decisions quicker is not a meaningful metric of value [1].
On implementation, she recommends involving both the workforce responsible for a process and its internal customers, since long-tenured employees often struggle to reimagine processes tied to their own accumulated expertise, sometimes due to anxiety about being replaced [1]. Her example of a procurement function shows how gathering feedback from internal stakeholders, then bringing in business process optimization specialists, can help determine which parts of a workflow should stay human-led and which can be automated [1].
Experience
- Sr Fellow at HarvardMossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolOct 2025 to Present
- Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), AI & DataCyeraMay 2025 to Present
- CDAO & AI AdvisorDeloitteMar 2025 to Present
- Adjunct ProfessorCarnegie Mellon UniversityJul 2025 to Sep 2025
- Head of Technology for North America, Startups DivisionAmazon Web Services (AWS)Jul 2024 to Jun 2025
- SVP, Chief Analytics OfficerThe Estée Lauder Companies Inc.Jan 2021 to May 2023
- Chief Data & Analytics OfficerMerckMay 2020 to Feb 2021
- EVP, Chief Data OfficerSony Music EntertainmentSep 2018 to Aug 2020
Education
Harvard University · Executive Program, Disruptive Strategies2016 - 2018
Pepperdine Graziadio Business School · MBA, Strategy & Leaderhship2003 - 2005
University of California, Berkeley · BS, Chemistry
Media & appearances
- Scaling AI with Sol RashidiYouTube · Oct 23, 2025
The video discusses scaling AI in enterprises with Sol Rashidi, focusing on frameworks, models, and metrics for governing and securing AI initiatives. It references an ebook created for executives responsible for shaping AI's future. The discussion emphasizes practical implementation over theoretical concepts, highlighting the need for safeguards alongside speed in AI deployment.
- Sol Rashidi: AI May Hurt Your Ability to ThinkThe Tech Series (Marcelo De Santis)
Sol Rashidi discusses the distinction between 'using AI' (buying tools like ChatGPT) and 'doing AI' (decomposing workflows and thoughtfully determining which tasks should be human-led versus machine-automated). She emphasizes that companies often chase speed and productivity gains without patience for the deeper work required, and advocates for involving both the workforce and internal stakeholders to redesign processes rather than simply layering new tools onto existing tech stacks.
- Sol Rashidi: AI Risk is Dependency, Not Just Job DisplacementStartupHub.ai coverage · Apr 14, 2026
- Cyera: Harnessing AI to Transform the Landscape of Data SecurityTruth in IT · Aug 25, 2025
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