This paper explores the influence mechanism of artificial intelligence application on corporate green innovation with a sample of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2023. It is found that artificial intelligence application is significantly positively related to corporate green innovation. After robustness tests such as replacing core variables, excluding new crown epidemics, and excluding green innovation outliers, the finding remains unchanged, indicating that AI application significantly promote corporate green innovation. Further analysis reveals that the promotion effect of AI application on corporate green innovation is more obvious in high management shareholding ratio and non-heavily polluted enterprises, while it does not show a significant difference in the nature of ownership and industry attributes. The findings of this paper not only enrich the existing literature on AI application, but also provide empirical evidence on how governments can promote corporate green innovation.