Reconfiguring Value Capture: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Income Distribution in Global Value Chains

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping the global division. However, its effects and transmission mechanisms on cross-country distribution of global value chain income shares remain underexplored. Using cross-country panel data of 35 economies from 2000 to 2014, this paper empirically examines the impact, heterogeneity and internal mechanisms of AI on a country’s GVC income share. The results show that AI development significantly increases a country’s GVC income share, and this finding remains robust after sample adjustments, variable replacements and endogeneity corrections. The GVC empowerment effect of AI is more pronounced in developed economies, countries with larger domestic markets and those positioned higher in GVCs. Factor decomposition reveals that AI exerts the strongest positive effect on value created by capital and high-skilled labor, confirming its dual attributes as capital-augmenting and skill-biased. Mechanism tests indicate that AI raises GVC income shares through three channels: factor structure optimization, skill-biased technological progress, and intermediate goods inward orientation. This study provides theoretical insights into the evolution of international division in the AI era and offers policy implications for countries to formulate differentiated intelligent development strategies and capture more gains from global production networks.