Understanding the Role of Cultural Context and User Interaction in Artificial Intelligence Based Systems

Organizations have begun to adopt and implement artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their IT initiatives. Though researchers have focused on adoption, implementation, and use of IS for many decades, AI-based systems or AI system (AIS) are opening new vistas for research in the field. Among many aspects of AIS implementation and usage, this essay focuses on one of the key characteristics of AI that has been frequently mentioned in contemporary practitioner literature, but little researched – interaction between users and their AI, called mutual learning. That is, AI should learn from its users’ decision-making behaviors, and users should better understand how AI can support and influence their decision-making as well as its limitations. Based on a discussion of socio-technological contexts for successful implementation of AI in organizations, this essay describes the unique nature of AIS that sets them apart from traditional IS, particularly on the issue of mutual learning. It also identifies the possible role of users’ cultural context and its influence on user-AI interactions and progressive customization of AIS.