Artificial intelligence (AI), representing advanced scientific and technological advancements, serves as the internal power and source of the emergence of new quality productivity. However, the path and mechanism of the influence between the two are still unclear. This study first clarified characteristics of the elements of new quality productivity at the employee, enterprise and industry levels, as well as the characteristics of AI application. At the employee level, emphasis was placed on the “automation-enhancement” pathway as well as the mechanism of capability integration, capability learning and capability reconfiguration of AI. At the enterprise level, the study investigated the role of AI in functional pathways such as marketing, innovation, supply chain management, human resources, and strategic decision-making, alongside the mechanisms for resource structuring, resource restructuring, and resource utilization. Furthermore, the research explored AI’s role in shaping industry-level dynamics through the industrial chain, innovation chain, capital chain, and talent chain, as well as mechanisms for labor substitution, spillover integration, technological innovation and ecological synergies. These elements are crucial for advancing new quality productivity. The study also advocated for the synergy of short-term, medium-term, and long-term policies to support this advancement. This study expands the intellectual boundaries of the problem of AI for the emergence of new quality productivity and promotes the theoretical dialog between AI and new quality productivity research.