Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major threat throughout the world. The latest advancements in the field of computational techniques based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Big Data can help in detecting, monitoring and forecasting the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to review the detection of the COVID-19 pandemic empowered by AI, major implications, challenges and the future of smart health care at a glance. The AI plays a pioneering role in rapid and improved detection of the disease. It helps in modeling the disease activity and predicting the severity for better decision making and preparedness by healthcare authorities and policymakers. It is a promising technology for automatic and fully transparent monitoring system to track and treat the patients remotely without spreading the virus to others. The future application areas of AI-based healthcare are also identified. The role of AI in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic is reviewed in this paper. AI proves beneficial in early detection with improved results. It also provides solution for contact tracing, prediction, drug development thus reducing the workload of medical industry.