Abstract: Promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence with the economy and society is of great significance for unleashing its fiscal and economic efficiency and alleviating the financial pressure on local governments. Based on the panel data from 280 cities in China from 2010 to 2023, this paper constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences model to empirically examine the impact of the“AI+”initiative on local fiscal pressure and its underlying mechanism. The findings show that the“AI+”initiative, with the national new-generation AI innovation and development pilot zones as its policy vehicle, has significantly alleviated local fiscal pressures. The mechanism analysis shows that the policy boosts entrepreneurial vitality among market entities, thereby increasing tax revenue, and optimizes the allocation of government funds to improve fiscal expenditure efficiency, thus relieving fiscal pressure. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the alleviating effect is more pronounced in regions with lower fiscal self-sufficiency rates and higher industrial agglomeration. Additionally, the “AI+”initiative helps mitigate regional disparities in initial digital infrastructure and policy support. Therefore, efforts should be made to further advance the“AI+”initiative, unleashing its fiscal and economic effects; promote better integration of an effective market and a proactive government, facilitating the transmission mechanism for alleviating fiscal pressures; and implement a differentiated “AI+”development strategy by region to precisely mitigate local fiscal burdens.

Key words: “AI+”, fiscal pressure, entrepreneurial vitality, fiscal expenditure efficiency