Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often presented as a new phenomenon that is primarily driven by advances in contemporary machine learning technologies. Despite the steep rise, conceptualizations of contemporary AI technologies tend to be vague in many studies. This is problematic not only for positioning and focusing such research, but also for theorizing on the pervasive AI phenomenon. This paper presents a systematic literature review to understand and synthesize distinctive characteristics of contemporary AI technologies. In the course of our ongoing research, the preliminary findings encompass the changing role of data, feature extraction, adaptivity, transparency, and biases. With our future research, we seek to provide guidance on the conceptualizations of AI in IS research and to facilitate a more nuanced and focused theorization of AI in future IS studies
