The strategic use of artificial intelligence in the digital era: Systematic literature review and future research directions

•We define fundamental concepts related to Artificial Intelligence and about the Information Technology alignment with Business Strategy.•We provide a critical literature review related to the integration of AI to Business Strategy.•We propose a framework with the identification of knowledge gaps and the propositions for future researches. Artificial Intelligence tools have attracted attention from the literature and business organizations in the last decade, especially by the advances in machine learning techniques. However, despite the great potential of AI technologies for solving problems, there are still issues involved in practical use and lack of knowledge as regards using AI in a strategic way, in order to create business value. In this context, the present study aims to fill this gap by: providing a critical literature review related to the integration of AI to organizational strategy; synthetizing the existing approaches and frameworks, highlighting the potential benefits, challenges and opportunities; presenting a discussion about future research directions. Through a systematic literature review, research articles were analyzed. Besides gaps for future studies, a conceptual framework is presented, discussed according to four sources of value creation: (i) decision support; (ii) customer and employee engagement; (iii) automation; and (iv) new products and services. These findings contribute to both theoretical and managerial perspectives, with extensive opportunities for generating novel theory and new forms of management practices.