The out of touch leader is a trope that I'm willing to bet has existed as long as we've had leaders.
I remember first hearing the phrase "yes man" in relation to a human ass kisser my dad worked with in like 1988.
It's very easy to unknowingly surround yourself with syncophants and hangers on when you literally have more money than some countries. This is true now and has been true forever. I'm not sure they're more out of touch, as much as we're way more aware?
> They're not sitting down and deriving from first principles that AI is the way--they're seeing their buddies steering other companies and they're all saying AI is the way, so they say AI is the way, too.
I think you're underestimating a bit. We must implement AI because they were able to sell it so good that they got billion $ investors (see all the money coming from Qatar/saudi arabia etc). That's a lot of money coming in that allows to innovate/etc.
But that thing they all were peddling and getting investors over could be anything! For a while it was "blockchain." Everyone had to do blockchain because everyone was doing blockchain, and investors were giving you money if you say blockchain. I wonder what it will be once the AI bubble bursts.
I swear that every 5-10 years, corporate CEOs all get together in a secret meeting where they all agree on the next buzzword technology. They invite Harvard Business Review and the tech press to give them their marching orders. Then, finally, the white smoke comes forth from the chimney indicating the next bubble buzzword has been chosen, and the industry goes bananas over it for 10 years for no reason.
But there wasn't really a bubble crash from blockchain, or did I miss something.
Out-of-touch leaders existed for millennia. The "Emperor's New Clothes" tale was published in 1837 as a reproduction of a much older folk take. Sima Qian criticizes out-of-touch lords and emperors in his book about ancient history, written in 1th century BC. Maybe there is even older evidence.
It's more than the fact they are surrounded by sycophants. It's also that, despite the mythology the executive-worship-industry tries to paint, CxOs and board members of companies are just not very creative or visionary people. They largely spend their time looking at their peers and competitors for hints about what they should be doing. And today, those hints all are "do AI". They're not sitting down and deriving from first principles that AI is the way--they're seeing their buddies steering other companies and they're all saying AI is the way, so they say AI is the way, too.