Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Resilience of Rural Sector

The digital engine of change has brought about many unprecedented opportunities and challenges, such as the digital divide between the haves and have-nots. The AI-based transformation will deepen the digital divide tragedy and accentuate urban–rural inequalities. As a countermeasure, it will be essential to devise digitally inclusive strategies to increase the resilience of rural communities through AI-driven solutions. AI can improve rural healthcare access and reduce healthcare delivery costs. Intelligent telemedicine is an AI-enabled consultation support system based on AI-enabled natural language processing and chatbots that can be accessed through a mobile phone to help reduce patients’ travel time and expenses. The customer science platform based on AI-enabled analytics that monitors customer journeys in the banking sector and solves customer struggles during onboarding is a good example of developing a rural economy through financial inclusion. The urban–rural gap in the agriculture sector can be closed by applying AI and robotics for various activities (weeding, crop monitoring, fertilizer & pesticide application), transforming labor-intensive jobs into better-qualified jobs.