In our recently published online editorial in the Information Systems Journal entitled “Generative AI Is Neither Just Another IT Artefact nor a Colleague: Methodological Guidance for IS Scholarship,” we address the current dynamics surrounding generative AI in business informatics/IS research and provide concrete methodological guidance.
New Editorial: Generative AI Is Neither Just Another IT Artefact nor a Colleague: Methodological Guidance for IS Scholarship
The starting point is the observation that since large language models have become widely available (e.g., since ChatGPT), the number of submissions on GenAI has risen sharply, but the conceptual and technical examination of the respective artifact often remains superficial. In particular, when “AI” is only vaguely named or treated as a black box, both the assessment of novelty and the viability of the theoretical contributions derived from it become uncertain.
The editorial therefore clears up common misconceptions and explains why GenAI should be understood as neither “just another IT artifact” nor a “colleague.” Building on this, the authors formulate methodological guidelines for GenAI-related IS studies, with a particular focus on conceptualizing the technology precisely and thus enabling theory development that actually takes GenAI-specific characteristics into account.
Online version of the editorial:
