Objective To translate and culturally adapt the Attitude Scale Towards the Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Nursing (ASUAITIN) into Chinese and validate its psychometric properties among nurses. Methods Following Brislin’s translation model, the ASUAITIN underwent forward-backward translation, cultural adaptation, and pilot testing to develop the Chinese version. A convenience sample of 530 registered nurses from two tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province was recruited between February and April 2025 to evaluate the scale’s reliability and validity. Results The Chinese ASUAITIN comprised 15 items across two dimensions: negative attitudes and positive attitudes. Item-total correlations ranged from 0.686 to 0.767. The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.929, with subscale coefficients of 0.950 (negative attitudes) and 0.962 (positive attitudes). Split-half reliability was 0.970, and test-retest reliability was 0.907. Item-level content validity indices (I-CVI) ranged from 0.833 to 1.000, with a universal agreement CVI of 0.867 and a scale-level average CVI of 0.979. Exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors with eigenvalues >1, accounting for 85.59% of the cumulative variance. Concurrent validity with the Nurses’ Innovative Behavior Scale showed a correlation coefficient of 0.655. Conclusion The Chinese version of the ASUAITIN demonstrates robust reliability and validity for assessing nurses’ attitudes toward AI applications in clinical practice. It provides a novel assessment tool for researchers and supports evidence-based decision-making in AI implementation within healthcare institutions.