In the era of artificial intelligence with the rapid development of information technology, the application of intelligent technology in education has become a key factor in promoting the high-quality development of higher education. The purpose of this paper is to explore how intelligent technology empowers the design of higher education courses and the realization of innovative paths in the process, and to assess the effectiveness of the designed innovative paths by using independent samples t-test and paired samples t-test methods. In the teaching experiment, the experimental group was guided by an innovation path empowered by smart technology to design the curriculum, while the control group used the traditional path to design the curriculum content. After the experiment, there were significant differences (P0.05) in terms of physical fitness level and physical activity attitude, and the test scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group. It indicates that the innovative path of intelligent technology-enabled curriculum design proposed in this paper can effectively improve students’ attitudes toward physical exercise and thus promote the improvement of students’ physical fitness level, and the application effect is significantly better than the traditional curriculum design path.