Artificial intelligence (AI) has proven its tremendous impact on society and business. Extant literature discusses that AI lacks strategic focus in organisations and adoption is often failing. Yet, recent developments in generative AI (GenAI) accelerate adoption by promising quick wins. Understanding this contradiction demands study of the strategic factors that influence AI adoption in firms. Therefore, we ask the broad question what factors influence managers’ decisions on adopting AI in their business. Semi-structured interviews with executives from different industries provide rich insights into their organisations’ decision processes for adopting AI. The findings contribute to both theory and practice by shedding light on the factors that lead organisations to implement or reject AI: business model growth, competitive positioning, technical capability, striving for efficiency, and internal organisational factors.