Corporate productivity transformation under the innovation paradigm: The role and impact of artificial intelligence

Faced with the slowdown in global economic growth and intensified market competition, artificial intelligence (AI), an emerging general-purpose technology, has become a key driver for enterprises to maintain market competitiveness and promote the modernization of productivity. Based on data from Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2022, this study employs textual analysis to measure the level of AI application in enterprises and empirically examines the impact of AI on corporate productivity transformation under the innovation paradigm, its mechanism of action, and heterogeneous characteristics. The findings indicate that AI application significantly improves corporate productivity, and this conclusion remains robust after diverse robustness tests. Specifically, AI promotes the modernization of productivity by optimizing the allocation of innovative resources, enhancing dual innovation capabilities, and improving the quality and efficiency of innovation outputs. Moreover, enterprises in environments with high market competition intensity, with rich AI application experience, in the core digital economy, and in high-tech industries can leverage AI technology more effectively to achieve significant productivity improvements. This study provides a new perspective for understanding how AI substantially affects corporate productivity and offers policy implications for supporting the efficient application of AI technology in enterprises.