The Artificial Intelligence Paradox: Does Digital Progress Fuel Environmental Injustice via Transboundary Pollution?

The uneven proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) presents unexamined challenges to sustainable regional development. This study provides robust empirical evidence on how the inter-city AI gap influences environmental dynamics, specifically via transboundary air pollution. Using a framework based on the Technological Gap Theory, the results demonstrate that a wider AI gap significantly intensifies air pollution transmission between cities. The primary mechanisms are widening disparities in digital infrastructure and imbalanced flows of capital and labor. This effect is context-dependent and most severe for economically underdeveloped cities, creating a new form of environmental inequity. The analysis further reveals that while environmental regulations can mitigate this negative impact, technology-centric policies lacking green synergy may amplify it. The research’s findings offer a new theoretical lens on techno-environmental inequality and underscore the necessity of synergistic policies that simultaneously bridge the digital and environmental divides to foster equitable and sustainable development.