While the global energy transition increasingly centers on the Just Transition principle, the role of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) in achieving equitable outcomes remains an empirical black box. This study interrogates the premise of technological neutrality by empirically examining the relationship between AI adoption and energy justice. Using a panel dataset for 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2022, we construct a multidimensional energy justice index to analyze AI’s net effects, pathways, and institutional dependencies. Our findings reveal a complex reality: while AI adoption significantly enhances overall energy justice, the effect is neither universal nor unconditional. This positive effect is mediated by improved energy efficiency, green innovation, higher energy prices, and reduced industrial density, and is amplified by stricter environmental regulations and better digital infrastructure. However, the benefits are concentrated in China’s advanced eastern region. Furthermore, AI’s contribution is uneven across justice dimensions: it markedly improves procedural and recognition justice but can initially exacerbate distributional injustice. These results demonstrate that AI is not an inherent instrument of justice but a malleable socio-technical force whose equitable outcomes depend on policy design and institutional context. To ensure AI serves a just transition, policy must shift from simply promoting technology to proactively shaping the regulatory and infrastructural ecosystems that govern its deployment.
Ye et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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