Artificial Intelligence as an Organizing Capability Arising from Human-Algorithm Relations

In this article, we move beyond the prevailing view of artificial intelligence (AI) as an independent entity within organizations, which, we argue, risks obscuring potential explanations of the effects of AI on organizing. Drawing on posthumanism, we propose an ontological shift in conceptualizing AI. We theorize that, instead of residing within algorithmic actors, AI arises from the relations among human and algorithmic actors as an organizing capability. This capability is characterized by connectivity, codependence, and emergence as core properties, and contributes to organizational analysing, learning, and acting in pursuit of organizational goals. The shift from the entity view to the organizing capability view of AI has significant implications for understanding its organizational effects and opens new avenues for research in human-algorithm collaboration, algorithmic management, and organizational intelligence, while counterbalancing tendencies to treat AI as autonomous agents.