Under the guidance of The Outline of the Plan for Building a Powerful Nation in Education (2024–2035) issued by the Chinese government, artificial intelligence technology is deeply embedded in the basic education system. As a key role in school governance, the leadership of principals has a direct impact on the effectiveness of Artificial intelligence (AI) teaching reform. This paper focuses on Chengdu, a representative city in southwest China. Using a semi-structured focus group interview method, it conducts a field survey of principals and senior managers of 20 primary and secondary schools to explore the leadership behavior, collaboration mechanism and institutional support path of principals in the AI teaching reform. The study found that the current AI teaching reform faces three prominent challenges: first, the cognitive bias of artificial intelligence hinders the formation of educational consensus; second, the fuzzy positioning of the principal's role leads to a weak collaboration mechanism; and third, the disconnection between teacher capacity and resource construction restricts the implementation of technology. Based on the analysis of transformational leadership theory, the study points out that principals need to strengthen vision leadership, emotional motivation and organizational empowerment, promote the improvement of teachers' AI literacy and school structural collaboration, and provide action strategies and policy recommendations for the deep integration of educational technology and teaching goals. The research results provide theoretical support and practical reference for promoting the digital transformation of education with Chinese characteristics and the construction of principal leadership.
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