Paradoxes in Transformative AI Entrepreneurship

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key technology that is shaping today's world. Consequently, a large number of AI startups are currently emerging that are spreading this transformative technology into industrial regimes. However, these AI ventures repeatedly encounter paradoxical tensions that hinder the socially responsible implementation of their innovations. It is, therefore, imperative to examine how entrepreneurial paradoxes are perceived and addressed by transformative AI startups. For this, the study follows a qualitative, inductive research design, drawing insights from eight AI startups. The findings not only show how paradoxes are perceived, but also reveal a grounded theory model that illustrate how AI startups respond to these entrepreneurial paradoxes. The emerging model enriches existing literature on AI entrepreneurship, provides new perspectives on paradox theory and offers avenues for future research.