AI is doing everything from making art to writing computer software, and now community leaders in western Kansas are hoping it can help them crack the code for bringing people and businesses to their areas. The rural communities are turning to AI to identify the businesses, services and housing residents need. That helps them target the types of businesses they should work to attract and where housing is needed to buck long-term trends of rural population loss. It’s an intriguing idea to Shandon Classen. He sips coffee in the corner booth of his coffee shop in downtown Liberal, Kansas. He opened it last year. It’s the only locally owned coffee shop in town, but business has been difficult to maintain. Using AI-powered foot traffic software, officials in Seward, Finney and Ford counties now can track when people come to town and where they shop through anonymous cell phone data That gives them a better idea how to help their own business owners and towns. Businesses like his will soon have access to the tool. “If AI could tell us about our demographics, if it could help us know what people want, that would be a huge help,” Classen said. The goal is finding out what people in a western Kansas town need. Just down the road in Liberal, Mario Loredo is the type of person communities are hoping to learn about. He said his parents own a restaurant and frequently travel over 50 miles to Garden City to shop. “They have to go to Garden, to Sam’s Club because they have to buy a lot of stuff in bulk,” Loredo said. “It’s just stuff you can’t find here.” Loredo is one of many residents who travel to Garden City, the retail center in southwest Kansas. Garden City has seen more success in economic development than neighboring towns, but the hope is the community will continue expanding. Lona Duvall is president of economic development for Finney County, home of Garden City. People like her have been trying to track out-of-town retail shoppers for years, but it hasn’t been easy. They only have a small staff and they’d have to physically look at license plates in shopping centers. “We counted 12 from New Mexico and 15 from Colorado, or whatever the case may be,” Duvall said. This is where AI comes in. Finney County is one of several in western Kansas that purchased a tool called Placer AI. It tracks where people travel through anonymized cell phone data. That data helps them determine why people are coming to town or leaving town. Where they’re shopping and what they need. Then they can use that data to determine what businesses they should try to attract to keep people in the community.
Source: KCUR News
