As a key strategic resource in the digital economy era, the extent to which firms focus on data elements reflects their strategic emphasis on emerging technological development and plays a guiding role in shaping technology evolution. Using a panel dataset of 39,681 firm-year observations from Chinese listed companies, this study employed the fixed effects models as well as the mediation and moderation analyses to systematically examine the internal pathways through which data element focus promotes artificial intelligence (AI) technological innovation, and explored how external environmental conditions shape this process. The results revealed that: (1) enterprise-level data element focus has a significantly positive impact on AI technological innovation; (2) internally, this effect is primarily driven by the activation of non-precipitated slack resources, while the role of precipitated slack resources is less pronounced; (3) externally, both market competition intensity and the degree of government public data openness enhance the innovation-promoting effect of data focus; and (4) the positive effect of data elements focus is more significant in firms with higher levels of capital, managerial, and technological resources. This study has expanded the boundary of the mechanism of data element values and it will offer practical insights into AI innovation under varying resource structures and environmental conditions.