Bridging the Digital Divide in Digital Humanities Using AI-Driven Applications and Services in India

The rapid development of digital technologies has transformed the humanities into an interdisciplinary domain known as Digital Humanities (DH). It is an intersection of computing technology and the humanities using various digital tools. However, the present digital divide is characterized by unequal access to digital infrastructure, skills, and resources, which limits inclusive participation in digital knowledge ecosystems. In India, socio-economic disparities, linguistic diversity, and infrastructural gaps intensify this divide. This study explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven applications and services can contribute to bridging the digital divide in Digital Humanities and promote more inclusive access to digital resources. This research work examines how AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven applications and services can minimised this divide in Digital Humanities. The study adopts a qualitative and exploratory research approach based on an extensive review of scholarly literature, theoretical frameworks, policy documents, and selected Indian case studies. Particular attention is given to AI-supported initiatives such as Bhashini, the National Digital Library of India (NDLI), multilingual natural language processing (NLP) tools, and language preservation projects that seek to improve accessibility across diverse linguistic communities. By analyzing theoretical frameworks, reviewing existing literature, and examining Indian case studies, the research work underscores the competence of AI in enhancing accessibility, preservation, and dissemination of cultural knowledge. The evidence from existing literature and case studies points that AI-driven tools such as computational linguistics, semantic technologies and machine learning can significantly reduce knowledge inequality, though challenges related to ethics, bias, and infrastructure remain. The study concludes that AI has considerable potential to support inclusive digital transformation in humanities research through multilingual access, intelligent information retrieval, automated metadata generation, language preservation, and improved accessibility of cultural heritage resources. However, realizing these benefits requires equitable digital infrastructure, AI literacy, ethical governance frameworks, and collaborative efforts among governments, academic institutions, libraries, archives, and technology developers The work recommends appropriate strategies for policy, practice, and future research.