Abstract: Atificial intelligence plays an important role in promoting technological progress and high-quality economic development, and has the potential to have a positive impact on alleviating urban shrinkage. Based on the panel data of 287 cities in China from 2007 to 2023, this paper constructs a unified analysis framework for the development of artificial intelligence and urban shrinkage to explore the inherent relationship and mechanism between the two. Research has shown that the development of artificial intelligence significantly alleviates urban shrinkage, and this conclusion still holds true after endogeneity and robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in shrinking cities, cities on the southeast side of the Hu Huanyong Line, peripheral cities, and resource-based cities, the development of artificial intelligence has a stronger mitigating effect on urban shrinkage. The mechanism analysis shows that the development of artificial intelligence can slow down urban shrinkage by promoting the return of urban population, enhancing urban innovation and entrepreneurship activity, and promoting industrial structure upgrading. Based on this, the policy level should focus on promoting population return, enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship activity, and accelerating industrial structure upgrading to effectively unleash the potential of artificial intelligence to alleviate urban shrinkage.

Key words: artificial intelligence, urban shrinkage, population return, innovation and entrepreneurship activity, industrial structure upgrading