Adopting artificial intelligence in sustainable business
Juha Sipola, Minna Saunila, Juhani Ukko
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) in sustainable businesses has attracted interest in various industries. However, research on the sustainable adoption of AI is scarce. The present research contributes to this gap by investigating the benefits of AI for sustainable businesses. Qualitative content analysis was used to investigate twenty-five of the largest Finnish enterprises. In the years 2017–2021, AI was employed in twenty of these enterprises, sixteen of which relied on AI to obtain benefits associated with sustainable business practices. Based on the sample, AI can be perceived as a generalizing technology in Finland. Additionally, the strategic significance of AI for enterprises has been discovered to be increasing. The research results indicate that AI deployment was driven primarily by two interlinked aims: 1) optimization and 2) the pursuit of benefits in various dimensions of sustainable business.