This paper reconsiders the phenomenon of the entrepreneurial orientation performance nexus in the digital age by verifying whether the adoption of artificial intelligence mediates the effect of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking on the performance of 342 Pakistani SMEs. Considering the resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities theory, structural equation modeling demonstrates that proactiveness and risk-taking have a significant direct influence on performance, whereas innovativeness and AI adoption have no effect. What is more important, none of the AI interaction names convey conventional meaning; that is, merely applying AI tools to existing entrepreneurial orientations does not necessarily generate dynamic capability. The results warn that the absence of complementary absorptive capacity, data governance and process discipline, cultural boldness, and AI investment would become a cost rather than a driver for resource-bound emerging markets.