How Generative Artificial Intelligence Stimulates Technological Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Enterprises: Evidence from Chinese A-Share Listed Companies Around the Release of ChatGPT

This study examines whether and how generative artificial intelligence (AI) stimulates technological innovation in biopharmaceutical enterprises. We define the generative AI shock using the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022 and an unbalanced panel of 2002 firm-year observations for Chinese A-share listed biopharmaceutical firms from 2017 to 2024. We construct a firm-level pre-shock AI exposure index from 2021 annual reports and combine high versus low exposure with a post indicator for 2022–2024 in a difference-in-differences framework. Results show that firms with greater pre-shock AI exposure experience significantly stronger increases in invention patent output, with the findings remaining robust across alternative specifications, sample restrictions, treatment-timing definitions, and firm-level clustered inference. According to the mechanism analyses, generative AI promotes innovation through stronger resource acquisition, greater specialisation and focus, and increased external collaboration. Heterogeneity tests show that effects vary across resource endowments, organisational capabilities, and innovation conditions. Further analyses reveal improvements in innovation quality and technological search breadth, with stronger marginal gains among firms with weaker accumulated knowledge. These findings show how the release of ChatGPT, as a generative AI shock, can reshape innovation in a knowledge-intensive and high-uncertainty industry.