Yes, this is another story about AI. But this one’s fun, because it’’s not about robots replacing humans…at least not entirely.

A new global technology report from Bain & Co. said that “funding AI’s insatiable compute demand would require $6 trillion in annual revenue by 2031 and much of the value lies in innovation—beyond employee productivity.”

“AI infrastructure investment is racing ahead, but generating enough economic value to justify it will require trillions of dollars in new AI-driven revenue,” according to Bain’s 7th Annual Global Technology Report.

Deepali Vyas, global head of data and AI executive search at ZRG Partners, told CFO Brew the mass investment in AI over the next few years will include hiring talent, because there are still ultimately some things that can’t be automated.

“Companies want to hire in AI,” she said. “What [enterprises] are saying is, ‘Let’s get the best and brightest minds that understand AI more holistically, because we want them to evangelize the firm, the enterprise, as well.’”

Who to hire. CFOs, as the executives taking accountability for major AI investments in the business, shouldn’t neglect the new need Bain pointed out for revenue acceleration, Vyas said. “CFOs should be asking, ‘What can we sell now that we couldn’t sell before? Which customers can we serve profitably that were previously maybe too expensive to reach?’”

As a result, “from an executive search perspective…you want to have technologists who have commercial DNA. They can’t just be obsessed about the technology…[They] have to have the commercial DNA to be like, ‘How am I going to tie this to the actual pricing and margins?’ because technical depth matters, but [so does] knowing how to turn a capability into a business,” she said.

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