At a critical stage of profound economic and social transformation in China, promoting the integration of “investment in goods” and “investment in people” has become an essential pathway to achieving high-quality development. As an important policy instrument representing “investment in goods”, whether government artificial intelligence (AI) procurement can stimulate firms to increase investment in digital-intelligent human capital and thereby facilitate the transition from “investment in goods” to “investment in people” remains an open empirical question. Using data from China’s A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2023, this paper employs large language models to construct a government AI procurement index and a firm digital-intelligent labor demand index, and empirically examines the impact of government AI procurement on corporate demand for digital-intelligent labor. The results show that government AI procurement significantly increases corporate demand for digital-intelligent labor. Mechanism testing indicates that this effect operates through three channels: intelligent capital deepening, AI technological innovation, and organizational governance upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect is more pronounced among firms located in cities with a higher level of digital entrepreneurship activity and those operating in more competitive markets. Further analysis shows that government AI procurement primarily increases corporate demand for experienced digital-intelligent workers, while no significant structural preference is observed with respect to educational attainment. Based on these findings, this paper proposes the following policy recommendations: Improve the institutional design of government AI procurement; strengthen its employment-enhancing role; implement differentiated procurement policies tailored to regional and industrial characteristics; and improve the cultivation, mobility, and incentive mechanisms for digital-intelligent talents.