A new research unit of the BAFFI Centre studies the impact of AI on decision making
BAFFI Centre grows with the launch of another research unit: AI and Strategic Decision-Making (AIDEC). AIDEC is the 17th research unit of the centre. The unit, directed by Alfonso Gambardella, aims at advancing knowledge of how artificial intelligence is transforming strategic decision-making in firms.
The unit builds on an established research program developed by its proposing members. This program has produced a substantial body of work on theory-based and scientific decision-making in strategy and entrepreneurship, published in the leading journals of the field. It includes large-scale randomized controlled trials showing that entrepreneurs and managers trained in a scientific approach to decision-making make better strategic choices and achieve superior performance. AI gives this agenda new scope and urgency. Large language models and agentic AI systems can support, and increasingly automate, the framing of problems, the generation and testing of business theories, and the exploration of counterfactuals. Understanding the complementarity between human strategic judgment and AI is the central scientific challenge the unit would address, and a key source of competitive advantage for firms. The research agenda of the unit is organized around six complementary areas:
AI and the microfoundations of strategic decisions;
Agentic AI in organizations;
The scientific approach to decision-making at scale;
Methods, measurement, and data;
AI applications in the life of firms;
The regulatory dimension of AI.
“The mission of the unit is to conduct cutting-edge research addressing two questions: How does artificial intelligence change the way managers and entrepreneurs make strategic decisions under uncertainty? And how can AI be designed and deployed to improve the quality of these decisions and, ultimately, firm performance? The unit approaches both questions through the lens of the scientific approach to decision-making: decision-makers perform better when they behave like scientists, framing problems, articulating causal theories of value, evaluating alternatives probabilistically, and testing their beliefs through experimentation before committing resources. Beyond how AI shapes decisions, the unit studies how firms apply AI in their operations and everyday activities, as well as the regulatory dimension of these developments and its growing economic and constitutional significance”, explains Alfonso Gambardella, research director of the AIDEC unit.