Beyond AI adoption: rethinking rural development from Indonesia

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly presented as crucial for rural development, as it offers opportunities for market access, business growth, and digital inclusion. Using reflections from three Indonesian communities associated with palm sugar production, woodcarving, and copper craftsmanship, this study examines the limits of technology-centred development. It argues that the most consequential constraints are not solely technological, but also involve an aging workforce, youth migration, uneven infrastructure, and the weakening transmission of local knowledge. Rural residents are not digitally absent; many use familiar platforms selectively, but sustained AI-assisted marketing requires more stable connectivity, time, organisational labour, and livelihood continuity. The study identifies a development mismatch in which increasingly advanced interventions fit poorly with the socioeconomic conditions of rural communities. It advocates a context-aware approach in which AI builds on existing practices, institutions, and aspirations rather than treating limited uptake as evidence of deficient digital literacy.