A Conceptual Framework for Applying Artificial Intelligence in Project Management

Due to their characteristic novelty and uniqueness, projects do not appear as a promising application domain for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) at first glance. Since most AI methods, especially machine learning, require comprehensive sets of historical data, the benefits of applying AI to project management (PM) seem to be hardly worthwhile. Based on existing solutions in theory and practice as well as the results of an explorative interview study in Germany, this article shows that AI can nevertheless make a valuable contribution to improving PM. For this purpose, we present a framework that defines the fundamental concepts for applying AI to PM comprising both the requirements of AI for the application domain PM as well as the requirements of PM for the solution domain AI. Considering the two domains’ mutual requirements, the framework structures the potential for the application of AI in PM and thus supports a targeted solution design for business.