In this study, we build on and extend research on technological frames to examine how individuals and organizations conceive complex and rapidly evolving digital technologies, and in particular generative artificial intelligence. We leverage a multilevel research design with professional informants embedded in companies actively exploring the use of the technology to elucidate the content of emerging technological frames and factors that explain them. Our findings draw attention to distinct conceptions of generative artificial intelligence that vary along five key dimensions: nature of technology, underlying motivation for its use, artifacts that actualize the technology’s potential, mode of adoption, and governance. Our exploratory analysis suggests that technological frames can be explained by a combination of institutional, organizational, and individual factors. Overall, the study offers early indications about the nature of heterogeneity in managerial perceptions concerning generative AI. Our hope is to inspire subsequent research on the organizational impacts of this heterogeneity and to provide useful concepts for practitioners to reflect on their own framings of generative AI.
