Towards AI-Driven Organizations

Paper i proceeding, 2026

There are few technologies, if any, that have the potential to change the software-intensive industry to the extent that artificial intelligence (AI) is currently doing. Across industries, companies are adopting these technologies to improve productivity, to increase efficiency and to automate tasks. In products, AI is used for optimization and mass-customization. However, there are few examples of companies that use AI to reinvent and fundamentally change their existing practices. In this paper, we present results from an expert interview study in which we explore how AI is affecting the ways in which companies operate and what steps companies evolve through when advancing their use of AI in their development processes, in their products and in their business processes. The contribution of the paper is two-fold. First, we present the interview results that reflect the adoption and use of AI technologies. As part of our interviews, we also identify a set of key challenges that companies experience. Second, we present an inductively derived three-pronged maturity model that describes how companies transition from traditional towards AI-driven organizations.