Artificial intelligence (AI), as a disruptive technology of the new era, is becoming a key driver of social sustainable development. Promoting sustainable growth through the development of AI contributes to achieving high-quality development. Based on panel data from prefecture-level cities between 2010 and 2022, this study evaluates regional sustainable development levels and treats the AI Innovation and Development Pilot Zones as a quasi-natural experiment. Using the double machine learning method, it systematically explores the impact mechanism of AI on regional sustainable development. The empirical results show that AI has a significant positive impact on urban sustainable development, particularly in central regions and non-resource-based cities. Mechanism analysis indicates that AI enhances regional innovation and entrepreneurship vitality and drives industrial structure optimization, thereby improving urban sustainable development. This study not only deepens the understanding of the effects of AI development but also provides new insights for advancing sustainable development.