“I want to fully exploit AI as a transformation turbo”

Mr. Eitler, since May 2025, you have taken on a key role as Chief Data & AI Officer in a key technology in Mercedes' IT strategy. From your perspective, what are the most important priorities you want to set in the first twelve months of your expanded responsibility?

My mission is to fully exploit AI as a transformation accelerator at Mercedes-Benz. I am focusing on three key points: First, leadership through knowledge: We need to enable our management to understand the potential of AI so that they can pass on these insights and foster a culture of innovation. Second, empowerment and inspiration: We provide our employees with comprehensive access to AI technologies and motivate them to use them creatively and productively. Third, AI value creation: We focus on use cases that deliver the greatest added value for our customers and increase productivity along the entire value chain. This is how we maximize the benefit of our investments. In doing so, we can build on a very good and broad AI foundation within the company with our team.

Why does an automotive company need a Chief AI Officer?

AI is transforming the industry and our sector in particular. The full impact is not yet foreseeable. To successfully anchor AI in the company, it requires everyone. Every employee plays a crucial role in utilizing AI for themselves and integrating it into their daily work. You can think of it like an intelligent drive system: each individual contributes and is part of the force that propels the company forward. My task is to optimally set up the control center: through central tools, methods, processes, and training that make the implementation of AI easy, fast, secure, and within the framework of our internal AI principles. By bundling these tasks into one function, we can increase effectiveness within the corporation.

You will soon lead an organization that unites cybersecurity, data management, and artificial intelligence under one roof. What challenges does this new interface role bring, especially in a corporation with a global setup?

The professional integration of AI, data, and cybersecurity is absolutely sensible, as the topics ideally complement each other: AI only unfolds its full effect on a solid data basis, and the success of AI applications depends on their secure implementation. Regarding the bundling of these topics and the design of this role, we are pioneers among the Dax-40 companies. By the way, the feedback from my network is consistently positive. The real challenge lies in the speed of change. AI is developing rapidly - often faster than we can implement it across the board. Classic top-down models quickly reach their limits. Instead, we need new forms of collaboration: more autonomy in the teams, clearly aligned with common principles. Especially in a globally positioned organization with a complex technology landscape and regulations, this is challenging - but also a great opportunity. If we succeed in networking knowledge, sharing experiences, and strategically utilizing regional strengths, we not only increase our innovative strength but also strengthen our global position.

Your direct boss, CIO Katrin Lehmann, repeatedly emphasizes the inseparable connection between data and AI. Where are the challenges in the individual departments such as development, sales, or production? And what are the biggest hurdles in bringing AI initiatives from the pilot phase to the broader implementation?

It is crucial to go beyond optimizing existing processes and fundamentally rethink them. This applies to all departments, and for that, we need to integrate and collaborate company-wide. In IT, we see ourselves as tech frontrunners. We already have many successful use cases along the value chain that we have set up together with colleagues from the business areas. To bring AI initiatives from the pilot phase to a broader scale, we need to find the right balance between short-term goals and long-term investments. This requires courage, strategic foresight, and a certain willingness to take risks. This is naturally a certain process in a company like ours - but we are on the right track.

Your career shows: You come from cybersecurity and bring deep IT experience. How does this background help you develop a future-proof AI strategy - and where do you see the greatest cultural change you need to initiate within the organization?

Like in cybersecurity, AI also works not just in isolated instances but across the entire company. To unleash its full power, we need a strong internal network and more speed in implementing ideas to achieve real productivity gains. In terms of cultural change, we need to move away from a pure understanding of technology to an attitude that promotes openness, learning, and experimentation. The human is at the wheel, and AI is the copilot. That's why we are deliberately building internal know-how, training AI specialists, and empowering our teams. This creates a culture where AI is not only used but actively co-shaped.