The impact of artificial intelligence on corporate innovation

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a key driver of technological progress and industrial transformation, yet empirical evidence on how AI promotes corporate innovation remains limited. Using online job posting data of Chinese listed companies from 2014 to 2024, this study constructs a firm-level measure of artificial intelligence and examines its impact on corporate innovation. The results show that artificial intelligence significantly promotes corporate innovation. Further analyses indicate that artificial intelligence enhances corporate innovation by increasing R&D investment and enriching firms’ knowledge diversity, thereby facilitating knowledge creation and knowledge recombination. The positive effect is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises and firms operating in non-high-tech industries. Grounded in the knowledge-based view, this study demonstrates how artificial intelligence expands firms’ knowledge bases and promotes knowledge creation and recombination, thereby extending the knowledge-based view of corporate innovation and providing new firm-level evidence on the innovation effects of artificial intelligence.