Seite - 118 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

1 TheRelevance of AI for Digital Entrepreneurs The technology of artificial intelligence (AI) is already considered to be a ground-breaking technology that has the potential to fundamentally change mar- kets, industries and in general business activities. Its disruption and innovation potential is considered tobeof amagnitude that cannot be compared to anyknown technology. And yet the threshold for research and use of AI is still ongoing (cf. Marr andWard 2019, pp. 1–3). This opens the opportunity to participate in this pioneering technology and make it available for usage by entrepreneurs at every market level. At the same time, this also increases the pressure not to fall behind. For entrepreneurs as well as companies the question arises as to howmuch influ- enceAIcanhaveon theirbusinessnowand in the futureandhowtheycan leverage the technological potential for themselves. Against this background, it is essential that entrepreneurs consider the consequences of AI in their businessmodel. AI technology is not a newphenomenon, neither in science nor for companies. However,recentdevelopments,e.g. inmachinelearning(ML), leadtobreakthroughs intheapplicabilityofAIinmanyareas.Thesechangesandimprovementsinusability nowallowmanycompanies touse this technology invariousapplications. The idea thatAI isnotyetoronly toa small extent present in theentrepreneurial world and that it is rather a theoretically phenomenon would be a misconception that an entrepreneur could succumb to. In fact,AI or algorithms that come close to it have alreadypenetratedmanyareasof everyday life.Manyof these examples are currently familiar to users, while others often remain hidden. Examples are shop- ping suggestions, face recognitionor speech assistants (cf. IntelCorporation2020). Somevoices evengo a step further and speakof a newageofAI, inwhich human abilities and talents are challenged by AI, thus changing the question of the long-termchanges inhuman life, including in the corporate andnewventure sector (cf. Iansiti andLakhani2020,pp. 17–18).Due to the fact, thatAI is alreadyused in many and diverse areas, the question arises how this technology can influence the business and especially the businessmodel (BM) of an entrepreneur. Furthermore, theuseofAInaturally requires technological investments andaccess to the relevant data for the operating ofAI. In particular, the output quality ofAI depends on the quality and quantity of available data (cf. Agrawal et al. 2018, pp. 98–99). All these developments illustrate not only the potential, but also the already dominant influence and opportunities thatAI can offer companies. From this point of view, it is of interest for entrepreneurs to knowwhat general possibilities are available to them. Especially the effects on a strategic level more precisely the innovation of the business model through AI applications are the focus of this article. Finally, the range of innovation possibilities shall be shown so that entre- preneurs become aware of this potential and can use it. 122 W. Pfau and P. Rimpp