Objective: To explore the practical effects of an AI-assisted pathological diagnosis system in clinical pathology teaching for gastrointestinal tumors, and to evaluate its impact on medical students’ pathological diagnostic capabilities, learning efficiency, and teaching satisfaction through comparative analysis. Methods: Fifty clinical medicine interns participating in gastrointestinal tumor clinical teaching in the pathology department of our hospital from March 2023 to December 2025 were selected and randomly divided into an observation group and a control group using a random number table method, each with 25 cases. The control group adopted the conventional teaching mode of traditional pathological slide demonstration combined with theoretical lectures, while the observation group conducted teaching practice using an AI-assisted pathological diagnosis system in addition to conventional teaching. The teaching period was 4 weeks for both groups. After the teaching period, unified theoretical and practical assessments of pathological slide diagnosis were conducted, and the time spent on slide reading by students in both groups was recorded. Additionally, teaching satisfaction questionnaires were distributed to compare the differences in various indicators between the two groups. Results: The theoretical and practical assessment scores of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (both P < 0.001). The average time spent on slide reading in the observation group was 12.35 ± 2.14 minutes, while that in the control group was 20.68 ± 3.26 minutes. The observation group spent significantly less time on slide reading than the control group (t = 10.708, P < 0.001). The overall teaching satisfaction in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The application of AI-assisted pathological diagnosis in clinical teaching for gastrointestinal tumors can effectively enhance medical students’ theoretical knowledge and practical diagnostic capabilities in pathology, reduce the time spent on slide reading, improve learning efficiency, and enhance teaching satisfaction. It is suitable for promotion and application in clinical pathology teaching for gastrointestinal tumors.