Artificial Incentelligence: How AI Is Reshaping Executive Pay (and Making CEOs Sweat Through Their Purdy Field Jackets)

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April 23, 2025

Written by Frank Glassner:
CEO, Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants

First, they came for the interns. Then the back-office accountants. Then the legal associates, the analysts, the strategists, the ghostwriters. And just when the CEO thought he was safe on the 59th floor with his panoramic view, AI showed up—not as an assistant, but as a mirror. One that remembers everything. Including that 8-figure pay package that was “modestly above market median” for “transformational leadership” (read: surviving the quarter).

Welcome to Artificial Incentelligence—where AI doesn’t just crunch the numbers; it questions your entire narrative.

The Rise of the Relentless Machines

No, AI just shows up and asks for the receipts:

• Why is your bonus tied to adjusted EBITDA that adjusts out every bad thing except your haircut?
• Why are your PSUs triggered by relative TSR compared to 12 companies that no longer exist?
• Why did you receive a “retention grant” while actively interviewing for other jobs?

Suddenly, comp committee meetings start to feel like IRS audits with a laugh track.

Peer Group Therapy (Machine Learning Edition)

One of AI’s favorite tricks? Reassessing peer groups.

It turns out that when AI actually examines your peers, it discovers they’re not peers at all. They’re either:

• Fallen unicorns whose founders are now thought leaders on LinkedIn after torching billions in shareholder value;
• Zombie SPACs still limping through NASDAQ like a slow-moving compliance horror film; or
• Companies led by modern-day Icaruses like WeWork’s Adam Neumann, who made “community-adjusted EBITDA” a thing before absconding with enough stock grants to launch a new planet.

AI sees through the smokescreen, recalibrates the entire cohort, and suggests a new peer group consisting of two private equity interns and a vending machine that dispenses humility.

The Algorithmic Comp Committee: Shorter Meetings, Longer Silences

Imagine the next generation compensation committee powered by three large language models, one neural net, and a well-fed algorithm with proxy advisor PTSD:

• Human committee members log in via Zoom;
• AI members respond instantly with a 247-page data pack; and
• A decision is rendered before someone finishes their kombucha

There’s no more “gut feel.” No more “he’s just the right guy for the moment.” The moment, according to the machine, costs too much. And your gut? It’s biased, under-researched, and statistically unreliable. AI doesn’t do vibes. It does receipts. And suddenly, every justification sounds like a confession.

CEOs Behaving Existentially

For the first time in recent memory, CEOs are confronting a reality they can’t buy, spin, or KPI away:

They are replaceable.

And not by other people—but by simulations of themselves.

Simulations that:

• Never Age;
• Never demand Board seats;
• Never shout at analysts; and
• Never appear in Vanity Fair exposés with quotes from disgruntled ex-CFOs.

And simulations that hit their targets with 98.6% accuracy.

Turns out AI doesn’t need stock options. All it needs is electricity and a nuclear-powered server farm in Iowa.

The Awkward Talk with IR: AI Read Your CD&A

Investor Relations just got complicated.

AI-scraping bots are reading your proxy statement and sending real-time alerts to shareholders like:

• “Alert: CEO has missed 3 of the last 5 performance targets, but still received a 120% bonus.”
• “New term detected: ‘transformational severance.’ No precedent found. High risk of backlash.”
• “Warning: Stock vesting triggered by CEO achieving 'spiritual alignment' with EBITDA.”

Suddenly, “shareholder engagement” isn’t a quarterly call—it’s a rolling digital deposition.

And Now the Big One: ChatGPT Writes the CEO’s Self-Evaluation

It’s already happening. Boards are suspiciously impressed by how thoughtful and humble the CEO suddenly sounds.

“This year was challenging, and I take full accountability. Going forward, I plan to align our vision more closely with sustainable value creation.”

Only problem? That’s GPT-4. And it wrote a better evaluation than the human did… because it means it.

What Would Frank Do?

Here’s how we at Veritas do it—and how you should, too:

✅ Let the Machines In—But Don’t Let Them Rule

AI is the scalpel. You're still the surgeon. Use its insights, but don’t let it drive your ethics and originality off a cliff.

✅ Audit Your Peer Group—Before the Bots Do

Get ahead of the game. Peer group cleansing is the new juice cleanse. (And produces fewer buzzwords.)

✅ Embed AI-Ethics Clauses in All Incentive Plans

Include provisions that auto-halt or adjust pay in the presence of machine-detected manipulation or “data-enhanced delusion.”

✅ Train Comp Committees Like They’re the Audit Committee

Use data. Ask hard questions. Reward performance, not personality.

✅ Simulate the Plan Before You Humiliate the Brand

Run every executive pay through an AI model first. If AI wouldn’t approve it, why would your shareholders?

Closing Thoughts

We’re entering a new era—one where executive pay will be scrutinized not just by shareholders, the SEC, or proxy advisors… but by tireless, fearless machines that never forget, never sleep, and never confuse charisma with competence.

But here’s the good news:

Veritas is watching.

As always, we’ve got your back. And Veritas has circled the wagons around you with pristine data, practical insight, and uniquely designed, out-of-the-box, client-centric solutions that make AI your partner—not your nemesis.

So, the next time you’re on the 59th floor, gazing out over your empire, just remember: the machines are already in the elevator. Because in a world of algorithms and volatility, there’s one thing you can still count on:

We do it the Veritas way.

FBG

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Frank Glassner is the CEO of Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants and a widely respected authority on executive pay and strategic compensation design. Known for his discerning judgment, consummate diplomacy, incisive insights, and unwavering discretion, he is a trusted advisor and confidant to boards, CEOs, and institutional investors worldwide.