Artificial Intelligence, Ai_Penetrate, and Ecological Efficiency: An Existentialist–Empirical Approach to Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has heightened tensions between efficiency‐driven production models and ecological sustainability goals. Prior studies, often relying on linear frameworks, fail to capture the nonlinear and regionally differentiated ecological outcomes of AI adoption, particularly its potential to alienate human ecological values. Integrating existential philosophy—which critiques technology's tendency to reduce nature to mere resources—with techno‐economic analysis, this study operationalizes concepts like technological “enframing” into measurable variables. Using a dynamic panel threshold regression model on provincial Chinese data (2010–2022), we examine how AI‐induced Ai_Penetrate affects regional eco‐efficiency. Results show AI penetration is associated with reductions in ecological efficiency at lower levels of public environmental awareness (proxied by NGO density, litigation rates, and education). However, beyond a critical threshold of public awareness, this effect reverses, suggesting that awakened societal agency can reorient AI's impact toward ecological promotion. Regional disparities are pronounced, mediated by interactions between market forces and institutions. Key transmission mechanisms include distorted energy structures, industrial path dependence, and crowding‐out of green innovation. This study concludes by proposing targeted policy interventions for policymakers, firms, and regulators to align AI development with ecological rationality, fostering a human‐technology‐nature symbiosis and supporting sustainable development goals (SDGs) 9, 12, 13, and 16.