Artificial Intelligence and robots: a threat or an opportunity for SMEs and entrepreneurship?

Abstract

The technological revolution driven by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and robots might represent either a threat to or an opportunity for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship. On one side, as a process innovation it is expected to give incumbents a large competitive advantage, therefore increasing market concentration. On the other side, however, as a product innovation it is likely to create room for specialization of SMEs and entry by new firms. This chapter discusses the impact of AI and robots on market dynamics, with an emphasis on how the prevailing opinion of an anticompetitive and labor-saving impact of this potentially new Technological Paradigm is influenced by overestimation of its use for the introduction of process - rather than product - innovations.