Enacting AI from the perspective of effectuation and causation

• Decision-making logics materialize in the enactment of AI affordances. • Effectuation and causation vary in the perception of AI, aim of use, and type of interaction. • From an effectual perspective, entrepreneurs aim for co-creative augmentation. • From a causal perspective, entrepreneurs aim for exploitative automation. Entrepreneurs enact artificial intelligence (AI) in fundamentally different ways, from automating discrete tasks to engaging AI as a collaborative counterpart. Yet why entrepreneurs perceive and use the same technology so differently remains underexplained. Integrating effectuation and causation theory with an affordance perspective, this study examines how entrepreneurial decision-making logics shape the perception, aim of use, and type of interaction with AI. While prior research has treated technology primarily as a contextual factor, semi-structured interviews with 24 entrepreneurs reveal that effectuation and causation act as constitutive mechanisms that antecedently shape how AI affordances are perceived and enacted. Two distinct enactment principles emerge: Entrepreneurs with causal orientations pursue exploitative automation, perceiving AI as an operational tool for outcome-oriented tasks. Those with effectual orientations pursue co-creative augmentation, perceiving AI as a counterpart for process-oriented collaboration. This study extends effectuation theory by demonstrating how decision-making logics as constitutive mechanisms materialize in distinct technology enactments.