Value creation and capture in artificial intelligence‐enabled ecosystems

Abstract

Abstract Research Summary We develop an ecosystem perspective on AI‐enabled value creation, grounded in AI's characteristics as a general‐purpose technology. We consider that AI can support multiple value propositions realized through distinct but interconnected ecosystems. Within this structure, AI innovators face choices concerning which value propositions to support, whether to pursue them through general‐purpose or specialized offers, and whether to make those offers open or closed. Users, in turn, are strategic actors facing choices among alternative ecosystem configurations of focal offers and complements through which the same value proposition might be realized. These choices by innovators and users may alter ecosystem roles and competitive relationships over time. We conclude by outlining research opportunities for strategy and innovation scholars examining how firms create and capture value in AI‐enabled ecosystems. Managerial Summary Value creation with AI depends not only on the technology's capability but on the actors whose combined contributions deliver a value proposition. AI supports many value propositions, each through its own ecosystem, with some elements shared across them. AI innovators choose which value propositions to serve, whether to do so through general‐purpose or specialized offers, and whether to make their offers open or proprietary. User firms choose among alternative configurations of offers and complements through which the same value proposition can be realized. These choices may shift the competitive relationships between actors within an ecosystem over time. This perspective surfaces questions of relevance for scholars and practitioners regarding value creation and capture with AI.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2026 · DOI ↗