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Information**. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly put forward the goal of accelerating the construction of digital China and the development of the digital economy. The term "digital village" was mentioned several times in Document No. 1. The 2023 National Digital Rural Construction On-site Promotion Conference was held in Jiamusi, marking a new step in China's rural revitalization strategy. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, it is increasingly widely used in agriculture and rural development, and continues to inject scientific and technological vitality into the fields of smart agriculture, rural digital governance, and culture and education. The use of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence to promote the construction of digital villages is an important measure to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and promote the strategy of rural revitalization, and is of great significance to the sustainable development of digital villages in China.
Last month, the first batch of "AI" demonstration villages in Jingmen City, Hubei Province, was launched, which is the first "AI" digital village built in the city, and one of the tens of thousands of digital village demonstration villages since the launch of the "Digital Village Lighting Project" in Hubei Province. In recent years, the construction of digital villages is not only reflected in the strengthening of rural digital infrastructure, but also in the penetration and application of artificial intelligence, which has injected scientific and technological vitality into the fields of smart agriculture, rural digital governance, culture and education in China, and also provided a strong impetus for the sustainable development of rural areas.
The value implication of AI-enabled sustainable development of digital villages.
AI empowers the sustainable development of rural agriculture. As early as 2015, the United Nations officially adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the second of which proposes to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agricultural development. Artificial intelligence is also a key technology in the process of agricultural automation. In order to actively reap the dividends of this technology, but also to avoid passive backwardness, all walks of life are implementing artificial intelligence technology on a large scale, and agriculture is no exception. At present, the use of artificial intelligence technology to assist agricultural production is common in some developed countries, including autonomous agricultural equipment and machinery, farm monitoring and management, and the development of new genetically modified crops. Canada's Nature Fresh Farm uses technology to monitor everything from planting to picking, using IoT devices to detect irrigation accuracy and fertilization, and quickly delivering grown produce to consumers. These modern technologies have changed the traditional agriculture of "relying on the sky to harvest", which can effectively reduce the impact of pests and weather, reduce the risk to farmers, and comprehensively promote the digitalization and modernization of agriculture.
AI empowers a new model of "intelligent governance" in rural management. Digital village governance is not only the core of digital village construction, but also an innovative path to promote the rural revitalization strategy. Document No. 1 in 2023 clearly emphasizes the important task of "promoting rural development, promoting rural construction, and improving rural governance", and provides comprehensive guidance and planning for it. In the newly released "Digital Village Construction Guide 20", the digital standards of rural governance are elaborated, covering many important areas such as "Internet Party Building", "Internet Government Affairs", "Online Village Affairs Management" and "Internet Law". The use of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technology will help guide the transformation of rural governance from the traditional rural autonomy model to a more efficient intelligent governance model, and achieve better integration and coordinated development with the urban governance model. As early as 2019, the Poverty Alleviation Office of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, in cooperation with the Developer Center, successfully launched a cloud computing platform for poverty alleviation in Hanzhong City using a customized image recognition model. As a key tool for "reducing costs and increasing efficiency" in rural governance, AI is being widely used, showing its important value in the construction of digital villages.
AI empowers the digitalization of rural education. Education is the foundation of national development, the key driving force for the sustainable development of a country, and an important fulcrum for rural revitalization. In this field, rural education forms the cornerstone of our education system. With the introduction of the "Digital China" initiative, the digitalization of rural education is also accelerating. In the "Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization (2018-2022)" released in 2018, the Communist Party of China (CPC) emphasized the priority development of rural education and actively promoted the development model of "Internet + education". In this context, smart classrooms have gradually become a new landscape for many rural schools in China. Seizing the opportunities of scientific and technological development, making full use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, and accelerating the deep integration of education, science and technology and talents will help improve the level of rural education and lay a solid foundation for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, so as to achieve high-quality development of rural construction.
Challenges in the sustainable development of AI-enabled digital villages.
The digital divide between urban and rural areas is too large, resulting in a digital divide. Although artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been widely adopted in many regions to promote rural construction and development, diverse issues such as the digital divide and technological adaptability still exist. The popularization of the Internet is a key driving force for the modernization of agriculture and rural production and the development of rural economy. According to the 52nd Internet Report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in 2023, the number of Internet users in China has reached 107.9 billion, with an internet penetration rate of 764%, and the Internet penetration rate in urban areas is 851%, and the Internet penetration rate in rural areas is 605%。Although the rural network infrastructure has basically achieved full coverage, there are still some rural areas with weak network infrastructure. Artificial intelligence technology relies on the digital environment built by the Internet, and basic sensor access is a challenge, not to mention the use of artificial intelligence technology for agricultural production and village management.
Aging exacerbates the crisis of digital literacy in rural areas. Rural areas face a growing ageing problem as young people migrate to cities and towns in large numbers. Although promoting the application of AI technology in rural revitalization is a positive direction, the actual use of these technologies and infrastructure is declining due to brain drain. Older people who stay in rural areas generally lack the ability to learn smart devices on their own, and often find the operation process complicated. A survey on the construction of digital villages found that among the elderly population aged 60 to 65, as many as 8350% said they "don't know how to operate a smartphone at all." Aging has become a bottleneck to the popularization of digital platforms in rural areas. The root cause of rural aging lies in the imbalance between urban and rural economic development, which leads many young rural people to choose to work outside the home as their main livelihood. In order to attract and cultivate rural digital talents, it is necessary not only to improve the salary, but also to improve the digital literacy of rural cadres. The promotion of digital technology capabilities should be a regular task, and relevant training and teaching should be conducted on a regular basis for rural residents to increase the frequency of use of smart facilities.
The problem of artificial intelligence carbon emissions has caused rural environmental pollution. While the application of AI brings convenience, carbon emissions are also a high-profile issue in the world, especially for large-scale artificial intelligence models. The construction of digital villages requires the use of many large-scale intelligent models, including intelligent machines in agricultural production, which hide the risk of carbon emissions for the rural ecological environment and do not meet the requirements of green rural construction.
AI-empowered optimization path for sustainable development of digital villages.
Digital inclusion bridges the digital divide. Digital inclusion, or digital inclusion, is an essential activity to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most vulnerable, have access to and use of information and communication technologies. Digital inclusion is essential to "bridging the digital divide and promoting digital literacy". In their ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) (ESG) reports, some Internet companies are actively using AI to participate in the construction of digital inclusion. Alibaba has launched digital consumption for the elderly at the digital margin, and actively carried out age-appropriate upgradingLaunched a caring app to help the elderly adapt to digital life. To use AI to empower the construction of digital villages, it is necessary to continuously promote digital inclusion, bridge the digital divide, and enable all groups to actively participate in the process of digital village construction, share digital dividends, and ultimately achieve social inclusion.
Human-centered to avoid digital ethical risks. Artificial intelligence technology undoubtedly plays an extremely important role in the construction of digital villages, significantly improving efficiency and reducing costs. However, the excessive pursuit of intelligence may ignore the unique human characteristics of the countryside, resulting in the loss of the unique "temperature" of the countryside. At the same time, AI technology also has many potential risks, such as privacy leaks, digital divides, and carbon emissions. As a technology, AI is a double-edged sword, and its effectiveness depends on the intent of the user. If criminals use it to steal information from the rural smart cloud, it may lead to fraud for the elderly in rural areasComprehensive and intelligent rural facilities will also bring inconvenience to the daily life of some elderly people. Therefore, in the process of building digital villages, we must adhere to the principle of people-oriented, strengthen the protection of privacy and humanistic care, and pay attention to the actual needs and demands of residents. Efforts should be made to make technology serve the real needs of rural areas, ensure that it truly benefits rural residents, and make digital transformation coexist harmoniously with rural culture and lifestyle.
Create a characteristic digital village according to local conditions. China has a vast territory and diverse rural types, but not all villages are suitable for developing into digital villages or empowered by AI technology. The implementation of uniform digital village standards is not necessarily appropriate for all rural areas. Some rural areas blindly pursue large-scale artificial intelligence agricultural production, but due to terrain and technical limitations, machinery and equipment are idle, resulting in a waste of resources. Therefore, in order to effectively use AI to empower the construction of digital villages, the key is to formulate specific plans based on the actual situation of local villages. This includes taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the countryside and combining the advantages of artificial intelligence to give full play to its strengths and avoid its shortcomings. Some tourism-based villages can improve the tourism experience by combining AI technology, develop new tourism projects, and bring new feelings to tourists, so as to promote the development of rural tourism in the direction of intelligence and quality.
Diversified co-construction strengthens the operational efficiency of digital villages. Relying solely on ** and local residents to promote the construction of digital villages may not be able to realize the full potential of AI. Although the staff has largely embraced the popularization of artificial intelligence, they basically use some basic intelligent models to deal with simple village management problems, and often do not have a deep understanding of how these technologies work. At present, artificial intelligence technology in the market is developing rapidly and is widely used in daily life, and these advances are largely due to the continuous research and development and updating of enterprises. Therefore, some enterprises participate in the digital village construction plan and adopt the tripartite co-construction model, which can not only comprehensively and efficiently tap the potential of AI, but also deeply apply it to all aspects of rural revitalization, becoming an important part of rural life.
Author: Tie Cuixiang (Associate Professor, School of Literature, Journalism and Communication, South-Central University for Nationalities);Li Yanchao (graduate student, School of Literature, Journalism and Communication, South-Central University for Nationalities).