Research on New Models of AI Empowering Higher Education Development–Taking China as an Example

In the context of an era deeply empowered by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the higher education system is undergoing a major transformation of model reconfiguration and concept reshaping. This paper takes Chinese universities as the research object, systematically sorts out the technical picture and theoretical logic of AI-enabled higher education, constructs a trinity empowerment analysis framework of “platform–teacher–student”, and explores the logic of educational transformation from three dimensions: technical path, cognitive transformation, and institutional coupling. Based on an empirical analysis of 1623 teacher–student questionnaires and structural equation models, the significant influence mechanisms of key variables such as “degree of use of AI tools”, “teacher engagement”, and “platform stability” on “learning initiative”, “teaching satisfaction”, and “learning outcomes” were verified. Further analysis of the case studies of Tsinghua University, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University and Guizhou Normal University reveals the structural advantages of high-level universities in the deep integration of AI, while universities in the central and western regions are constrained by the asymmetry of infrastructure and teacher competence and face the predicament of “suspended technology”. The study found that an effective way for AI to empower higher education lies in reconstructing the educational ecosystem, achieving a leap from the update of teaching tools to the reshaping of governance logic through a collaborative mechanism of “technology embedding — cognitive adaptation — mechanism feedback”. This paper enriches the perspective of AI education model research in theory and provides path insights for different types of universities to promote AI education transformation in practice.