The aging population and empty-nest phenomenon in rural China are becoming increasingly severe. The declining capacity of family-based elderly care combined with the insufficiency of public services poses significant challenges. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a potential solution to these challenges. Drawing on Human Capital Theory, the Life-Cycle Hypothesis, and Public Economics, this paper develops an economic framework for AI-enabled rural elderly care. It explains how AI counteracts the depreciation of elderly skills by revitalizing their tacit knowledge as productive assets, and facilitates transformation of the resource allocation for the purpose of elderly care from static intertemporal savings into a dynamic risk-sharing system. Taking into account the essential demand, policy support, technological maturity, and infrastructure upgrades, the paper proposes four pathways: a.) Intelligent Guardianship to mitigate health risks through multimodal monitoring; b.) Resource Decentralization by channeling urban medical expertise into rural areas via telemedicine; c.) Value Reinvention by extending the elderly’s human capital; and d.) Social Security Optimization to ensure smooth intertemporal protection through smart actuarial planning. However, these pathways also face risks and challenges, including the digital divide, service gaps, affordability constraints, and algorithmic discrimination. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a comprehensive and integrated policy framework of age-friendly adaptation, intelligent coordination, diversified financing, and public governance, to ensure that the elderly benefit equitably from technological innovation.