Once upon a time, IT had a clear purpose. It was the department that kept the servers running, fixed your email when it broke, and made sure you had access to the company database. IT was about infrastructure—routers, firewalls, and enterprise software. If it had a power button and it lived in the office, it belonged to IT.
But something strange has happened over the last few decades. IT has absorbed more and more responsibilities, to the point where it’s not entirely clear what IT is anymore. First, they inherited software licensing. Then they took ownership of SaaS subscriptions. Next, they were asked to manage every employee’s phone. Now, with AI, they’re being handed yet another beast to tame.
At what point does IT stop being IT?
The Expanding Scope of IT
A generation ago, IT was mainly about hardware. If a company had an IT department, it meant they had a data center or, at the very least, a few racks of servers in a dedicated room with an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on the door. Software was something IT deployed, not something it managed on a daily basis. But as everything moved to the cloud, IT found itself in charge of software purchasing and user access.
And then something changed.
SaaS exploded, and suddenly IT wasn’t just keeping the servers running—it was managing an ever-growing list of web applications that different teams used. One department wanted Asana, another wanted Monday.com, and marketing insisted on HubSpot. These weren’t "IT tools" in the traditional sense, but someone had to administer them. Naturally, IT was handed the job.
The same thing happened with phones. Once, IT only managed desk phones and PBX systems. Then mobile devices became essential to business, and suddenly IT was responsible for managing everyone’s iPhone, Android, or whatever BYOD policy the company had adopted.
Now we’re seeing it again with AI. The average company is adopting AI tools at breakneck speed, and the first instinct is to throw the responsibility to IT. But is that the right move?
AI Is Not Just Another IT Tool
The problem with putting AI under IT’s umbrella is that AI isn’t another piece of software—it’s a fundamental shift in how work is done. Unlike managing email accounts or provisioning cloud storage, AI adoption involves deep questions about business processes, ethics, compliance, and even job roles.
Consider an AI tool like ChatGPT. It’s not just a piece of software that runs in the background; it actively influences decision-making, customer interactions, and even creative output. Who should be responsible for figuring out when and how AI is used? IT can handle deployment and security, but should they be making the call on whether AI-generated content is legally or ethically appropriate?
The same goes for automation tools. RPA (robotic process automation) and AI-powered workflows replace human decision-making in finance, HR, and operations. Does IT own these changes, or should these be business-driven decisions that IT merely supports?
The IT Department as the Default Catch-All
One of the biggest problems in modern organizations is that anything even remotely technical gets shoved onto IT’s plate. The logic is simple: “This involves technology, so let’s give it to IT.” But not everything that involves technology is an IT problem. And technology is now integrated into EVERYTHING..
AI is a perfect example. A company adopting AI needs legal teams to evaluate risk, HR to consider workforce impact, and business leaders to determine strategy. IT can (and should) be involved in implementation, security, and governance, but the decisions about how AI is used should sit elsewhere.
The same goes for SaaS tools. Marketing teams should decide what CRM they use. Finance should own their own accounting software. IT can help with integration and security, but they shouldn’t be the ones picking and managing every single tool in the organization.
Where Do We Draw the Line?
At some point, companies need to recognize that technology isn’t just "IT’s problem." It’s everyone’s problem. IT should absolutely handle infrastructure, security, and governance, but they shouldn’t be the default owner of every tool just because it’s digital.
Here’s a simple test:
- If a tool is about infrastructure (e.g., networking, cloud services, identity management), it belongs to IT.
- If a tool is business-specific (e.g., marketing automation, finance software, AI-driven customer service tools), it should be owned by the relevant department.
- If a tool fundamentally changes how work is done (e.g., AI), it requires cross-functional leadership, not just IT oversight.
Companies that recognize this will move faster and make better decisions. Those that keep dumping everything on IT will find themselves with an overwhelmed department that spends more time managing licenses than driving real innovation.
What About a Dedicated AI Team?
Instead of dumping AI onto IT by default, what if companies created a dedicated AI team? Not a sub-department of IT, not an afterthought within data science, but an independent function focused entirely on AI adoption, governance, and strategy.
It makes sense. AI isn’t just another tool—it’s an entirely new way of working. Unlike traditional software, AI doesn’t have fixed rules. It learns, adapts, and sometimes behaves in ways we don’t expect. Managing AI isn’t just about setting up accounts and monitoring usage; it requires ethical considerations, regulatory compliance, workforce training, and continuous oversight.
A dedicated AI team could sit at the intersection of IT, business strategy, and compliance. Its role wouldn’t be just technical implementation but ensuring AI is being used effectively and responsibly. It would:
- Evaluate AI tools and vendors to determine which technologies align with company goals.
- Develop AI policies to address ethical concerns, data privacy, and regulatory requirements.
- Support AI adoption across departments, helping teams integrate AI into workflows without relying on IT to figure it out.
- Monitor AI performance and risks, ensuring models don’t drift into bias or produce unreliable outputs.
- Educate employees on AI literacy, making sure the workforce understands how to use AI effectively.
Think of it like the evolution of cybersecurity. Twenty years ago, security was just another responsibility under IT. Today, most companies have a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and an entire security team because the risks and complexities demand specialized focus. AI is heading in the same direction.
Some companies are already doing this. Large enterprises have Chief AI Officers. Startups are hiring AI Ops teams. The companies that take AI seriously will build dedicated teams to manage it, rather than treating it as just another item on IT’s ever-growing to-do list.
Maybe the real question isn’t whether IT should own AI, but why companies are still assuming it should.
The Future of IT
So where does that leave IT? Interestingly, as technology becomes more embedded in every part of the business, IT might actually become smaller. Not because it’s less important, but because ownership of technology will be more evenly distributed.
In the future, we might see IT focusing more on governance, security, and integration rather than being the default admin for every digital tool. Business teams will need their own technical expertise, whether that’s data specialists in marketing or AI leads in operations. IT will still exist, but it will function more like a backbone than a command center.
We’ve reached a point where IT is no longer just IT. And that’s okay. But if companies don’t rethink how they assign responsibility for technology, they’ll end up with an IT department that’s drowning in work, while the rest of the business waits for permission to innovate.
At some point, we have to stop asking, "Who in IT handles this?" and start asking, "Who actually owns this?"