Page - 128 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

Furthermore, the case studies carried out can be prescribed within the “inno- vationmatrix”. The cases here illustrate the scope ofAI applications on a strategic level.Not only one-sided fossilized application possibilities, but also double-sided, partly varyingly pronounced combinations are possible. In addition, it has been shown thatAI cannot only be developed in-house but is also available to companies in the form ofmarket services. Noticeably, not every conceivable form ofAI for companies is available on themarket, butmany func- tions are already offered that can be related to core functions of a company. Nevertheless, there are already providers who offer development assistance with their services forAI-basedservices.TheoffersonshownherearemostlyAIaaSand play an assisting or supporting role the user organizations. These applications have an innovative character, which can have a moderate but sustainable impact on businessmodels, especially in the area of supporting services. On the other hand, completely newBM is already emerging throughAI,which is onlymade possible using this technology. Such innovations have the strongest character on the strategic level for companies, in the sense that they can potentially be built on an increasedoruniquecreationofvalue.Whether a resultingbusinessmodelwill have adisruptive nature cannot usually be assessed in advancebut is a phenomenon that only occurs in the long term. The following diagram is intended to illustrate the previous results for the classification of theAI performance, described in the case studies. At this point, AIaaS and IaaS services are excluded, since theymay be an essential component for thedevelopmentofownAIapplications.Theyare ratherof secondary importance for the innovationpotential concerning the implementation in the BM. Especially, the interface between activity and customer focus in a high (grand) level of innovation is of interest at this point. If both characteristics can be achievedby anAI application, it appears in the examples considered here as if this could lead to far-reaching changes in the BM. In theory, these changes have the potential to be disruptive (Fig. 3). Finally, another assumption canbemade regarding the disruptive nature of new businessmodels in thefieldofAI. It ispossible thatAI-drivenbusinessmodelsmay have disruptive potential, provided that they can demonstrate a sufficiently strong focus on the activity and customer side in the businessmodel.While the two cases presentedhere aremerely intended to serve as an indicator for such an idea, further case studies aswell as long-termstudies about thesebusinessmodels arenecessary. 5.2 Derivation of theDynamic Interaction andResulting Strategies The question arises as to what insights entrepreneurs can draw from the findings derivedhere regarding the role ofAI in the innovation of businessmodels. First, it becomes clear that such adifferentiation ofAI applications as thatmadehere is not aplanningmethod for thedevelopmentofAIwithin thecompany.Rather, thisview opens a possibility to classify AI ideas and applications with respect to their influence on the business model using the presented matrix and roles. It can be 132 W. Pfau and P. Rimpp