Rural areas in India are becoming crucial hubs for training artificial intelligence, a trend known as cloud farming. This shift offers employment opportunities in smaller towns and provides cost-effective solutions for international clients.

• Around 30-40% of the work at companies like Desicrew is currently AI-related, with projections to grow to 75-100%.
• NextWealth, headquartered in Bangalore, employs 5,000 staff across 11 offices in smaller towns.
• Mohan Kumar, an AI annotation specialist in Virudhunagar, highlights that professional work, training, and client bases are identical whether in small towns or major cities.
• Approximately 60-70% of the workforce at companies like Desicrew and NextWealth are women, providing significant financial and educational benefits to their families.
• Mythily Ramesh, co-founder and managing director of NextWealth, believes India’s small towns could become the world’s largest hub for AI operations, similar to its IT services growth two decades ago.