Zahid Khan, Director and GM (New Shopping Experiences) at Amazon Bengaluru, recently shared a remarkable account of how he leveraged artificial intelligence to locate and map his ancestral land in Mohammadpur village, Uttar Pradesh. This property, passed down through generations from his grandfather to his father and then to him, presented a significant challenge due to his limited familiarity with its exact location.
AI Solves a Generational Land Puzzle
Khan's late father had inherited the land, but with only a handful of visits to the village throughout his life, Khan faced the daunting task of identifying specific land parcels. Despite government efforts to digitize land records, he found them spread across multiple official websites, presented in highly dense, complex Hindi that was difficult to interpret even for native speakers, likening it to ancient scripture.
Navigating Complex Digital Records with AI
To overcome this hurdle, Khan turned to Claude AI, specifically utilizing its "computer use" features. He initiated his search by inputting his father's name in Hindi to find relevant entries within the digitized government databases. Once he had the Gata Sankhya (plot numbers), the AI system was tasked with tracking these parcels on official mapping portals.
From Gata Sankhya to Google My Maps
The AI proved instrumental in processing the map data, identifying that the coordinates were in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) format rather than standard latitude and longitude. Claude then skillfully converted these coordinates and compiled them into a KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file, detailing 25 distinct land plots. Khan subsequently uploaded this KML file to Google My Maps, enabling him to visualize all his ancestral plots clearly on a map. Such intensive usage even led him to upgrade his Claude subscription from the free plan to Pro and then Max.
Implications for Rural Administration and Beyond
Khan's detailed LinkedIn post describing his experience quickly went viral, drawing strong reactions and highlighting the immense potential of AI tools. Users lauded the innovative application, noting that India possesses vast amounts of digitized yet often inaccessible data. This case demonstrates how AI agents can navigate complex government workflows, potentially unlocking enormous value in rural and administrative systems, making complex processes more accessible for everyday citizens.