The Role of Artificial Intelligence In Building A Smart Future: A Review of Applications, Enablers, Risks and Responsible Adoption

Artificial intelligence is becoming a general-purpose technology that makes systems more intelligent, efficient and capable of supporting human activities. This paper reviews the role of AI in building a smarter, safer and more sustainable future. It traces the foundations of modern AI in deep learning and transformer-based foundation models, and examines applications in smart cities and mobility, healthcare, education, agriculture, industry, scientific discovery, environmental monitoring and climate action, and robotic assistance in dangerous tasks. Evidence on AI's potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is discussed, together with its possible negative effects. The paper then reviews the enablers needed for wide adoption, including data, computing, connectivity, skills and digital public infrastructure, and the challenges of limited public awareness, the need for high-quality data, development and maintenance cost, bias, privacy and misuse. Global ethics guidelines and regulation, as well as India's national AI strategy, are examined as frameworks for responsible use. A five-layer framework for a smart future comprising foundations, AI capabilities, sectoral applications, governance and societal outcomes is proposed, along with research gaps, objectives and a comparison of sectors. The review concludes that AI can transform human life for the better only through continued innovation combined with responsible application.