ChatGPT—A Stormy Innovation for a Sustainable Business

1. Why Is Generative AI in Administrative Sciences Relevant?

Not only does generative AI, such as ChatGPT, represent an evolution in computational capability, but it is also going to change the way organizations approach knowledge creation, problem-solving, and innovation. This technology has the potential to revise business strategy, enhance decision-making, and democratize access to expertise through synthesizing and generating content.

Generative AI is indeed a fundamentally innovative change that is transforming all sectors and fields of study. This is precisely the revolution that Schumpeter would have spoken of in connection with entrepreneurship. This Special Issue proceeds from such insights into the value that tools like ChatGPT would bring to the delivery of administrative sciences as those disciplines become more wired in achieving sustainability, innovation, and solutions to societal challenges. The contemporary administrative sciences are at the forefront of addressing some of these global challenges—the fast-paced development of technology and changes in society require them to rise to the occasion and reconsider their scope and agenda. In this Special Issue, we bring together cutting-edge research on reshaping emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and generative AI with industries to promote sustainable practices that could build bridges towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This collection features each article within transformative, innovative, and promising frontiers of ethical, managerial, and practical concerns over how it would be integrated into business and finance.

2. Articles in This Special Issue

In their article Unleashing ChatGPT: Redefining Technology Acceptance and Digital Transformation in Higher Education, Loubna Mourtajji and Nathalie Arts-Chiss undergo timely deliberations on how ChatGPT could potentially transform higher education. This research adapts the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to integrate ethical considerations, transparency, and user control for frameworks that dictate the responsible use of AI. The focus has largely been on creating innovative models for incorporating generative AI technologies in educational and corporate settings. In compliance with Eke (2023), the findings of this research reveal that ethical governance is vital for reducing risks such as data misuse and dependence.

In their research Leveraging ICT and Generative AI in Higher Education for Sustainable Development: The Case of a Lebanese Private University, Nada Mallah Boustani et al. (2024) sought to better understand the ways in which ICT and generative AI can invoke sustainable development in higher education, particularly in a private Lebanese university. Its findings expose the fact that digital transformation is leading to improvements in professional development, infrastructure, and sustainability gains. Based on the work of Smith and Hensher (2020), the study resonates very much with the call of this Special Issue, which focuses on digitizing tools as a pathway toward scaling up green finance and achieving the SDGs. The authors balance the need to recognize technology in mainstream education with illustrated practicals of ICT from the vantage point of the application.

The article The Potential of AI in Performing Financial Sentiment Analysis for Predicting Entrepreneur Survival shows the cutting-edge innovation using AI-assisted sentiment analysis in predicting the outcome of entrepreneurs’ lives. Saleh and Semaan integrate financial data analysis with sustainable entrepreneurship by applying advanced AI techniques on financial sentiment to come up with strong AI relevance in decision-making and predict outcomes in a business environment for sustainable economic development, as Dwivedi et al. (2023) mention. This study contributes towards solving one of the objectives of the Special Issue, which is to bring AI into the finance domain for supporting SDG-aligned growth strategies.

AI-Driven Chatbots in CRM: Economic and Managerial Implications Across Industries further studies the realization and use of artificial intelligence for chatbots in customer relationship management with explicit articulation that aims to make the customer experience worthy and also minimize operational costs. Roberts and Faith (2021) incorporated several topics—including the challenges and opportunities of utilizing digital tools in business—to serve as a foundation for supporting the findings in this study. The authors, Khneyzer et al. (2024), point out several ethical issues, particularly transparency and customer data privacy, while emphasizing the managerial issues of applying AI technology to scale sustainable practices across industries.

Finally, the paper Three Horizons of Technical Skills in Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainability of Insurance Companies proposes a three-horizon framework for developing technical AI skills for ensuring the sustainability of insurance companies. This work is complemented by Nakamoto and Bitcoin’s (2008) exploration of what the future holds for the transformative potentials of blockchain, as seen from the perspective of the adoption of such technology for improving corporate sustainability goals. The authors thus come up with a roadmap for upholding innovation as the core theme in changing corporate strategies, in line with the call of this Special Issue for resilience and sustainability, for constant skill development.

3. Reflective Insights

Emerging from a visionary perspective on the administrative sciences, this Special Issue awards itself the prerequisite of innovation in sustainability. Each contribution fulfills the overarching purpose of the Special Issue: to open the doors to dialog between theory and practice. In this sense, the collection of articles in the Special Issue advances scholarship regarding technological innovation in the contexts of sustainability and business practice. From the ethical considerations accompanying AI adoption to the pragmatics of CRM and sentiment analysis, these studies provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. Future research must continue to explore interdisciplinary approaches leveraging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and generative AI for establishing the sustainability paradigm. The United Nations Innovation Network highlights this as essential for the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, emphasizing integrating this insight into policy and practice (United Nations, 2015).