Assessment of the impact of artificial intelligence on energy intensity——Empirical study on the use of industrial robots in 35 countries worldwide
With the progress of information technology and the transformation of social production and lifestyle,we have officially entered the era of Industry 4.0 . As energy is an inherent component and key driving force of Industry 4.0,governments around the world are gradually focusing on managing and monitoring energy consumption,optimizing energy combinations as much as possible to promote the coordination development of economic and environmental when they develop artificial intelligence. As a representative of artificial intelligence technology,industrial robots have penetrated into various production and life fields such as industry,civilian,and military due to their strong technicality,high efficiency,and wide applicability. They not only promote the improvement of production efficiency and economic growth,but also inject strong impetus into the prosperity and development of the country.Reviewing previous literatures,we found that researches on industrial robots mainly focus on the impact on production efficiency and economic development,including sustainable economic development,income distribution,and influence in the labor market,while there is relatively little investigation of the impact on energy intensity. Meanwhile,although researches about the impact of artificial intelligence on energy intensity have achieved certain success,there are also some shortcomings. For example,most studies focus on individual studies in developed countries,and there is relatively little literature that studies developed and developing countries from a global perspective;Furthermore,there is no consensus in the academic community on the impact of artificial intelligence on energy intensity and total energy consumption,and quantitative researches on the impact and mechanism of artificial intelligence on energy intensity still need to be further enriched. Compared with the previous researches,this article expands the content of existing literatures. Firstly,based on the existing theories,this article collected data on the installation of industrial robots from 35 major economies worldwide,and analyzed the impact of industrial robots on energy intensity at different levels of economic development from the perspectives of developed and developing countries. Secondly,variables such as energy structure,capital intensity,industrialization,and foreign trade are introduced into the analysis framework as control variables,and the empirical results of fixed effects and random effects models are used to ensure the accuracy of the conclusions. Thirdly,the impact mechanism of artificial intelligence on energy intensity is studied by examining the influence of industrial robots on capital intensity,GDP,and energy consumption.This article explores and tests the above issues by using relevant data of 35 major economies from 2006 to 2019. Throughout the entire research process,empirical methods such as fixed effects (FE) and random effects ( RE) were used to analyze the impact of industrial robots on energy intensity,and stability tests,endogeneity tests,and heterogeneity tests were conducted to ensure the accuracy of empirical results from multiple dimensions. The empirical results have proven that the application of industrial robots helps to improve energy efficiency. Specifically,firstly,the application of industrial robots can reduce energy intensity. The application of industrial robots forms an"inverted U-shaped"effect on energy intensity. When the application of industrial robots has not exceeded the critical value,it has an inhibitory effect on reducing energy intensity. When it exceeds a specific critical value,it will promote the reduction of energy intensity. Secondly,the decrease in energy intensity is mainly due to an increase in total output,rather than a decrease in total energy consumption. That is,when the number of industrial robots increases,the growth rate in industrial gross domestic product and per capita GDP is greater than that in energy and per capita energy consumption. Thirdly,although artificial intelligence can reduce energy intensity,its impact on energy intensity varies between developing and developed countries.The study objectively analyzed the impact of the development of artificial intelligence on energy intensity,and the results of the investigation can provide policy reference for the government to plan the development of artificial intelligence,and promote the harmonious development of economy and environment.However,there are also some research limitations. We have not explored the relevant impact from an industry perspective. In future research,the mechanism of the impact of industrial robots on industrial energy intensity can be further explored from an industry perspective based on the energy consumption characteristics of industrial sub industries.
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