A Multiple Case Study of Artificial Intelligent System Development in Industry

Abstract

There is a rapidly increasing amount of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems developed in recent years, with much expectation on its capacity of innovation and business value generation. However, the promised value of AI systems in specific business contexts might not be understood, and further integrated into the development processes. We wanted to understand how software engineering processes and practices can be applied to develop AI systems in a fast-faced, business-driven manner. As the first step, we explored contextual factors of AI development and the connections between AI developments to business opportunities. We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews in seven companies in Brazil, Norway and Southeast Asia. Our investigation revealed different types of AI systems and different AI development approaches. However, it is common that business opportunities involving with AI systems are not validated and there is lack of business-driven metrics that guide the development of AI systems. The findings have implications for future research on business-driven AI development and supporting tools and practices.