Creative Potential through Artificial Intelligence: Recommendations for Improving Corporate and Entrepreneurial Innovation Activities

This paper shows how start-ups or established organizations can improve their creative performance via using AI-based systems to actively promote creative processes. With insights from two studies conducted with entrepreneurs, innovation managers, and workshop facilitators, we provide recommendations for companies and entrepreneurs on how they can use AI to support creative potential to remain innovative and marketable in the long term. Our studies cover aspects such as AI for entrepreneurial activities or creativity workshops and show how to use AI-based systems to enhance the creative potential of the person, the process or the press (environment). Our findings also provide theoretical insights into perceiving AI as an equal partner and call for further research on designing AI for the future creative workplace

Addressing the Practical Impact of Design Science Research

Design science research (DSR) has established itself as an integral and continuously evolving part of information systems research. Aspects that recently became apparent are what design knowledge is and how it should be communicated to achieve a high impact. However, the question remains, whether DSR contributions find their way into practice. In this research in progress paper, we open and conceptualize the problem space (an assumed lack of practical impact) and conduct a systematic literature review of DSR literature to survey DSR researchers about their perception of a practical impact. The results show that DSR researchers think that their created artifacts either already found their way into practice or will in the future, but more measures are necessary to increase their impact. To ground this perception and further conceptualize the problem space, more steps are necessarily leading to our overall goal: a framework to position DSR research for maximum practical impact

DESIGN KNOWLEDGE FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING COMPANIONS

Conversational agents (CAs) are getting smarter thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, which opens the potential to use them in educational contexts to support (working) students. In addition, CAs are turning toward relationship-oriented virtual companions (e.g., Replika). Synthesizing these trends, we derive the virtual learning companion (VLC), which aims to support working students in their time management and motivation. In addition, we propose design knowledge, which was developed as part of a design science research project. We derive nine design principles, 28 meta-requirements, and 33 categories of design features based on interviews with students and experts, the results of an interdisciplinary workshop, and a user test. We aim to demonstrate how to design VLCs to unfold their potential for individual student support

Design Knowledge for Virtual Learning Companions from a Value-centered Perspective

The increasing popularity of conversational agents such as ChatGPT has sparked interest in their potential use in educational contexts but undermines the role of companionship in learning with these tools. Our study targets the design of virtual learning companions (VLCs), focusing on bonding relationships for collaborative learning while facilitating students’ time management and motivation. We draw upon design science research (DSR) to derive prescriptive design knowledge for VLCs as the core of our contribution. Through three DSR cycles, we conducted interviews with working students and experts, held interdisciplinary workshops with the target group, designed and evaluated two conceptual prototypes, and fully coded a VLC instantiation, which we tested with students in class. Our approach has yielded 9 design principles, 28 meta-requirements, and 33 design features centered around the value-in-interaction. These encompass Human-likeness and Dialogue Management, Proactive and Reactive Behavior, and Relationship Building on the Relationship Layer (DP1,3,4), Adaptation (DP2) on the Matching Layer, as well as Provision of Supportive Content, Fostering Learning Competencies, Motivational Environment, and Ethical Responsibility (DP5-8) on the Service Layer

Why Do We Turn to Virtual Companions? A Text Mining Analysis of Replika Reviews

Many people globally experience the feeling of loneliness and struggle with its consequences. A modern way to deal with this loneliness and lack of companionship is to use empathetic and emotional conversational agents. Often referred to as virtual companions, these agents can engage in human-like conversations with their users and build relationships with them through modern artificial intelligence technologies. One established service of such virtual companions is Replika, which we investigate in this study to explore what users expect to gain from long-term interactions with virtual companions and what they tend to talk about with them. Using a text mining approach and 119,831 reviews of the Replika service, we analyze users\u27 sentiments, emotions, and topics. Our results show that users interact with virtual companions to cope with their loneliness and, especially, to address their mental well-being. Furthermore, Replika users have a joyful and beneficial experience during long-term interaction with such virtual companions

A Teaching Framework for the Methodically Versatile DSR Education of Master’s Students

Design Science Research (DSR) has become a widespread paradigm in the Information Systems (IS) discipline to design and evaluate novel artifacts for relevant problems in a scientifically rigorous manner. With its potential to complement the traditional IS curriculum, DSR education is gaining popularity in academia, despite still being in its infancy. Our contribution applies DSR for designing and evaluating a DSR teaching framework (TF) derived from reused and expanded design principles from literature. Our approach mediates the paradigm’s methodical versatility to master’s students, empowering them to evaluate and create their own DSR projects interactively. We evaluated our DSR TF in a workshop with DSR educators from three countries and six universities to discuss its applicability for reuse. Additionally, we surveyed former course participants to gather their feedback and reflect on their experiences

Von Assistenten zu Begleitern - Gestaltung virtueller Begleiter

The technological progress in the field of Artificial Intelligence has already changed the way we humans interact with information technology. Chatbots take over conversations with people in customer service, and virtual assistants are available for small tasks on our smartphones. These technologies have one thing in common: they use human patterns and design features to interact with us, for example, by using natural language or a human appearance. It has already been proven that humans ascribe human attributes to these systems because of their humanization: Thus, humans are treating computers like other humans. For this reason, throughout the work on this research project, elements from interpersonal relationships and collaboration are applied to the human-machine interaction: The idea of the Virtual Companion was born. At the beginning of this research project, the focus was on investigating the use of such systems in creative contexts. By identifying a fundamental lack of design knowledge for such systems in the research domain, a more holistic approach was then taken. Through design-oriented research, design knowledge for different use cases is derived in this work, as well as specifically for the design of the proposed Virtual Companions. Later on, this dissertation will focus on a design theory for virtual companionship, as well as a design process tailored explicitly to the instantiation of Virtual Companions. For the design process itself, the use of different methods and design tools is suggested. Especially for the conceptual design phase, the Virtual Companion Canvas was created by the author of this dissertation in order to enable a creative, holistic, and user-centered design of Virtual Companions, detached from the technological implementation.Durch den technologischen Fortschritt im Bereich der Künstlichen Intelligenz hat sich schon heute die Art und Weise wie wir Menschen mit Informationstechnologie interagieren geändert. Chatbots übernehmen Gespräche mit Menschen im Kundenservice und virtuelle Assistenten stehen uns für kleine Aufgaben auf unseren Smartphones zur Seite. Eines haben diese Technologien gemeinsam: Sie verwenden menschliche Muster und Gestaltungsmerkmale, um mit uns zu interagieren, beispielsweise durch die Verwendung von natürlicher Sprache oder ein grundsätzliches menschliches Erscheinungsbild. Schon bewiesen ist, dass Menschen diesen Systemen durch ihre Vermenschlichung auch menschliche Attribute zuschreiben: Menschen behandeln Computer also wie Menschen. Aus diesem Grund wurden im Verlauf der Arbeit an diesem Forschungsvorhaben, Elemente aus der zwischenmenschlichen Beziehung und Zusammenarbeit, auf die Mensch-Maschine Interaktion übertragen: Die Idee des Virtual Companions war geboren. Zu Beginn des Forschungsvorhabens stand noch die Erforschung des Einsatzes solcher Systeme in kreativen Kontexten im Fokus. Durch die Identifikation eines grundsätzlichen Mangels an Gestaltungswissen für solche Systeme in der Forschungsdomäne, wurde dann ein ganzheitlicherer Ansatz verfolgt. Mittels gestaltungs-orientierter Forschung wird im Rahmen dieser Arbeit Gestaltungswissen für verschiedene Anwendungsfälle hergeleitet, sowie speziell für die Gestaltung von Virtual Companions. Im späteren Verlauf widmet sich diese Dissertation der Herleitung einer Design Theorie für Virtual Companionship, sowie eines Gestaltungsprozesses, welcher speziell auf die Instanziierung von Virtual Companions zugeschnitten ist. Für den Gestaltungsprozess selbst wird die Verwendung von verschiedenen Methoden und Design Tools vorgeschlagen. Speziell für die Konzeptionsphase wurde die Virtual Companion Canvas vom Autor dieser Dissertation erschaffen, um eine kreative, ganzheitliche und nutzerzentrierte Gestaltung von Virtual Companions, losgelöst von der technologischen Umsetzung, zu ermöglichen