Seminario AI-enabled entrepreneurial ection and ‘Theories of the possible’: some reflections on research at the xexus of AI and entrepreneurship

The seminar is reserved for the Department of Management’s community. Other interested colleagues can contact Marcello Maria Mariani (marcello.mariani@unibo.it).

Artificial intelligence (AI) has significant potential to augment entrepreneurs’ capabilities and actions, particularly by deepening their understanding of entrepreneurial possibilities. Recent work in entrepreneurship has begun to examine the nature of such AI-enabled entrepreneurial action under uncertainty and the boundary conditions. One emerging line of research adopts a “possibility-based view of entrepreneurial opportunities,” suggesting that AI can strengthen entrepreneurs’ epistemic capabilities—expanding their knowledge of imagined futures—even if it cannot improve their knowledge of probabilities. Entrepreneurs exercise their agency and undertake entrepreneurial actions based on their beliefs about such possibilities (‘theories of the possible’) even in the absence of quantifiable evidence. While the literature recognizes this potential, several important questions remain: In what concrete ways can AI broaden entrepreneurs’ knowledge of the possibility space and spur entrepreneurial action? What risks and limitations accompany AI’s influence in this regard? And in which contexts would such an AI role be most beneficial to entrepreneurs? In this talk, I will offer ideas that address some of these questions and outline directions for advancing research in this area.

Short Biography of the Speaker

Satish Nambisan is the Nancy and Joseph Keithley Professor of Technology Management and Professor of Design and Innovation at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, where he also chairs the Design & Innovation Department. An award-winning scholar, his research focuses on innovation management, entrepreneurship, and the impact of digital technologies and AI on business. His work has appeared in leading journals including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Management Science, Organization Science,  Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Academy of  Management Perspectives, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory &  Practice, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Academy of Marketing  Science, Research Policy, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.He received the 2024 Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award and the 2025 Davis-Dickson Impact Award, and was named a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher from 2022–2024. Nambisan has authored several influential books, including The Digital Multinational (MIT Press, 2022), which won the 2023 Axiom Business Book Award. He also serves as Field Editor for AI and digital entrepreneurship at the Journal of Business Venturing.