Does Financial Slack Facilitate Disclosed Corporate Artificial Intelligence Adoption? Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms

Does financial slack support disclosed corporate artificial intelligence (AI) adoption? Using 39,288 Chinese firm-year observations during 2008–2023, we find a positive conditional association between lagged slack and AI-related annual-report disclosure. Joint estimates are positive for debt capacity and lower fixed-asset commitment, while the operating cash-flow estimate is imprecise. Evidence for lower fixed-asset commitment remains significant under inference sensitivity checks. The association is clearer for disclosure presence than volume among positive reports. Resource composition matters for interpreting financing conditions surrounding reported AI activity. These observational findings concern disclosure rather than verified deployment.