ITOKI Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Hiroshi Minato) is pleased to announce the establishment of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) position, placing AI at the core of its management transformation, and the appointment of Takashi Takeuchi, who will be promoted to Senior Managing Executive Officer, to this role effective July 1, 2026. The company views AI not merely as a tool for operational efficiency, but as a critical theme for transforming management decisions, business processes, human resource development, and customer value creation. As General Manager of the DX Division, Takeuchi will be responsible for promoting the company-wide AI strategy, developing the AI utilization infrastructure, strengthening AI governance, implementing AI in internal operations, and fostering AI talent. Under the CAIO, the company will drive company-wide AX (AI Transformation) and enhance the execution of management strategies based on an AI shift. Background for Establishing the CAIO Position With the advancement of technologies such as generative AI, AI has become a management theme that influences a company's competitiveness and organizational capabilities. Beyond deciding which operations to introduce AI into, how to connect a company's data, talent, and business processes to AI utilization is a crucial challenge that will shape future growth. For ITOKI, the question of whether to introduce AI is no longer up for debate. The important issue is how to utilize AI safely and practically to drive management transformation and create customer value. In January 2026, the company announced its AI-shift management strategy, declaring its policy to "place AI at the core of management." Furthermore, by renovating its core systems to a cloud ERP, data from supply chains to accounting and management has become interconnected, and the development of a company-wide data infrastructure, the foundation for AI utilization, is progressing. Against this ba