PodChats for FutureCIO: Operationalising trusted AI in 2026

The conversations in the boardrooms of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong have fundamentally shifted. Two years ago, the discourse around Artificial Intelligence was dominated by fear: fear of disruption, fear of competitors moving faster, and crucially, fear of emerging regulation. 

Today, in late 2025, that fear has crystallised into strategy. For forward-thinking CIOs and functional leaders, AI regulation is no longer an obstacle to be circumvented; it has become a catalyst for building a durable competitive advantage—what industry leaders now call “The Governed Advantage.”

In this new paradigm, efficiency is taking a backseat to trust with consumers, partners and investors allocating their capital and loyalty to businesses that demonstrably deploy AI responsibly. 

In a region characterised by disjointed and patchy regulation, winners are those that moved from a mindset of compliance to one of operationalisation – embedding governance into the very fabric of their AI lifecycle and strategy.

CIOs are building targeted use cases—in fraud detection, hyper-personalised customer engagement, or predictive supply chain management—that have built-in governance, proving that rigour enables velocity, not the opposite.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Russell Fishman, Global Head of AI Solutions at NetApp, joins us to share his views on how we can achieve the operationalisation of trusted AI in 2026  

Rusell, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Name the most important characteristics of a trusted AI as viewed from the POV of a CIO?

2.       What are the top 3 drivers pushing enterprises in the region to accelerate trusted AI adoption?

3.       What are businesses in the region doing right (and wrong) in their current approach to responsible AI? 

4.       Why do we continue to have a data problem?

5.       (Chinese philosophy about risks and opportunity) Why should CIOs see the evolving regulatory landscape in SEA+HK as an opportunity?

6.       Given the evolving nature of the technology and regulation, how should a CIO approach the company’s AI strategy so that it is adaptive, scalable and sustainable?

7.       How should CIOs architect their AI strategy to support innovation while staying compliant?

8.       What role does technology infrastructure, particularly data management, play in enabling this new era of governed AI?

9.       Looking ahead to 2026, what is the single most important action a CIO should take now?