Exploring the Integration of Artificial Intelligence in the Ideation Stage of Product Development in Swedish Startups: Challenges, Opportunities, and Tool Utilization

Abstract: The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within product development has emerged as a significant area of research, especially in 2022-2023. However, there is a lack of empirical research on how AI tools are integrated into the product development process, especially within the ideation stage of startups, and what challenges and opportunities arise from this integration. Our thesis explores the following research question: What are the opportunities and challenges of implementing AI tools for product development in Swedish startups? We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight Swedish startups, supported by an analysis of information readily available online. Firstly, our findings demonstrate the challenges that arise from the integration of AI tools within the ideation stage of the product development process, which include: (1) Limited context awareness (2) Limited technical and professional skills from users (3) Data Limitations (4) High cost (5) Over Reliance on AI and (6) Ethical concerns. Secondly, our findings demonstrate the opportunities that arise from the integration of AI tools within the ideation stage of the product development process, which includes: (1) Increasing efficiency, (2) Knowledge acquisition, (3) Enhancing user experience, (4) Cost efficiency, and (5) Innovation. Finally, our findings demonstrate which AI tools are currently being utilized, which includes the exploration of: (1) Language Models ChatGPT (2) Language Models Github Copilot (3) Data Generators (4) Automatic Speech Recognition (5) Natural Language Understanding (6) Modeling Tools.