Learning about artificial intelligence? Cluelessness, courage, and magic in facing a moving target

Artificial intelligence in its myriad forms is taking the world by storm. In this Provocation Essay, I reflect on my learning in studying human-artificial intelligence interaction. I embarked upon the journey as an organization and management scholar who was clueless about technology but mustered the courage to face artificial intelligence. I learned to approach it as a moving target and slippery subject of inquiry. Viewing artificial intelligence as magic orchestrated by magicians and driven by future-oriented discourse helped me make sense of what is done and sold in its name, how, and why. Based on my autoethnography, I propose a perspective for studying human-artificial intelligence interaction that is grounded in what organization and management scholars can do: critical reflexive inquiry that is open to collaborating with scholars and practitioners with different insights into artificial intelligence and committed to keeping arguments open-ended and leaving room for readers’ imagination. In doing so, we can speak up for humans in human-artificial intelligence interaction.