Synergizing Service Ecosystems with AI

This editorial synthesizes insights from the SIG Services workshop on “Synergizing Service Ecosystems with AI” at ICIS 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand, where the participants examined the expanding role of generative AI in service ecosystems. Generative AI leads us to go far beyond traditional data-driven service approaches and allows to actively shape service design, management, and experiences. AI agents enter frontline interactions and backend processes and challenge established notions of human roles, resource orchestration, and organizational strategy. The workshop contributions highlight novel theoretical perspectives, including human-AI co-creation, agency reconfiguration, and the interplay of trust, data governance, and sustainable development in service ecosystems. They also underscore tensions between global standardization and local regulation, as well as the need for interdisciplinary research and responsible innovation frameworks. By integrating generative AI into diverse service domains—public, financial, educational, and industrial—this wave of transformation promises new opportunities and complex dilemmas. Ultimately, this editorial invites other researchers to navigate the emerging landscape ethically, inclusively, and sustainably.