Public Data Access and AI Adoption for Sustainable Digital Transformation: Evidence from China

Wei Zhao

doi:10.62177/jaet.v2i4.848

Authors

Wei Zhao Turība University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62177/jaet.v2i4.848

Keywords:

Public Data Access, Artificial Intelligence;, Information-Acquisition Costs, Talent Structure, Sustainability

Abstract

The correlation between public data accessibility and the adoption intensity of artificial intelligence (AI) in Chinese enterprises remains systematically understudied. By leveraging the rollout of municipal public data platforms as a quasi-natural experiment, this study demonstrates that enterprises in cities with such platforms exhibit significantly stronger AI adoption than those in non-platform regions. Mechanistically, this effect operates through dual pathways: significant reductions in operational expenditures and structural upgrades in specialized AI workforce allocation. This study elucidates the action pathway of China's data platform opening up in facilitating the application of artificial intelligence within enterprises. Furthermore, it offers a universal analytical framework for examining the coupling mechanism between data elements and industrial digital transformation during the technological transition in developing countries. These findings also suggest that improving public data accessibility contributes to sustainable digital transformation by aligning technological diffusion with efficient and inclusive resource utilization.

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