Tech for Good: The employment effects of policy-driven artificial intelligence development

Employment stability constitutes a fundamental pillar of socioeconomic development, with direct implications for social welfare and societal cohesion. This study utilizes the implementation of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Development Pilot Zones (AIIDPZs) initiated in 2019 as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate how artificial intelligence (AI) development influences corporate employment decisions. Our findings demonstrate that the establishment of AIIDPZs promotes enterprise labor employment, with firms in pilot regions experiencing an average increase in employment scale of approximately 4.56 % compared to enterprises in non-pilot regions, an effect similarly verified at the city level. Mechanism tests reveal that the entrepreneurship incentive effect and the market expansion effect are the operational channels through which AIIDPZs enhance labor employment. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that enterprise-level factors such as company size and ownership structure significantly influence the employment effects of AIIDPZs. Furthermore, industry and regional factors also affect the employment impact of these pilot zones. Further analysis indicates that AIIDPZs increase demand for non-routine, high-skilled, and highly educated labor, reflecting an upgrade in human capital. This research highlights the employment-boosting effects of establishing AIIDPZs, offering valuable policy insights for advancing AI technology applications and achieving stable employment outcomes.