Carbon emissions have gained worldwide attention in the industrial era. As a key carbon-emitting industry, achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector is vital to mitigating the negative effects of climate change and achieving sustainable development. The rise of intelligent technologies has driven industrial structural transformations that may help achieve carbon reduction. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is an important part of digitalization, providing new technological tools and directions for the low carbon development of enterprises. This study selects Chinese A-share listed companies in the manufacturing industry from 2012 to 2021 as the research objects and uses a fixed-effects regression model to study the relationship between AI and carbon emissions. This study clarifies the significance of enterprise AI technology applications in realizing carbon emissions reduction and explores the regulatory mechanism from the perspective of the innovation effect. The results show that the application of enterprise AI technology positively impacts carbon emissions reduction. Simultaneously, green technological innovation, green management innovation, and green product innovation play moderating roles; in other words, enterprise green innovation strengthens the effect of AI on carbon emissions reduction. This study clarifies the necessity of intelligent manufacturing and enriches theories related to AI technology and carbon emissions.

With economic globalization, sustainable development has become the preferred choice of enterprises facing fierce competition. Innovation is the primary driving force of development. As the driving force of sustainable development, green technology innovation (GTI) is crucial for enterprises. As a key influencing factor for green technological innovation, corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior has received increasing attention. Based on stakeholder theory, stakeholders influence enterprises’ long-term strategic development goals. This study aims to examine the importance of CSR in advancing GTI and the involvement of stakeholders. Thus, this study selected Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as research objects and used fixed-effects regression models. The results identify the positive effects of CSR on GTI. This study also divided the stakeholders into different groups and elucidated, from different stakeholder perspectives, the positive moderating effects of government environmental subsidies, investor attention, and executive environmental attention on the relationship between CSR and GTI. This study verifies the direct impact of CSR on GTI, enriches the theoretical foundations of stakeholder theory and resource-based theory, and provides practical suggestions for enterprises to improve their social and environmental performance and green development. It also reveals the cognitive roles of governments, investors, and executives in environmental protection and governance, which will help Chinese enterprises to better fulfil their social responsibility, improve their own green technological innovation, and achieve sustainable development.