Is Pakistan Getting Ready For AI Revolution?

[Riaz Haq]

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has taken the world by a storm. It has drawn the attention of academia, businesses and governments around the world.  This technology is expected to transform almost every sector from business and commerce to government, industries and defense. Are Pakistanis aware of its potential?  Is Pakistan getting ready for what is being described as the "AI Revolution"? Let's examine the answers to these questions. 

AI awareness is rising among Pakistan’s general public. The country ranks third with 76% of people being aware of ChatGPT, according to Stanford University’s AI Index Report 2024 covering a survey of 31 countries, including the United States, Europe and East Asia.  India (82%), Kenya (81%), Indonesia (76%), and Pakistan (76%) have the highest awareness rates in the world.  Brazil and Canada have 64% awareness, UK and Japan 61%, China, Germany and France 60% and the US 55%. Poland reported the lowest awareness, at 43%. Globally, 17% of users utilize it daily, 36% weekly, and 16% monthly. India (36%), Pakistan (28%), and Kenya(27%) report the highest levels of daily usage. 

Pakistan is among the top 4 countries for enrollment in Coursera online GenAI courses, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Brazil, make up more than half (52%) of GenAI enrollments on Coursera. It offers more than 4,600 courses and 55 Professional Certificates in up to 21 popular languages, including Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish.  Coursera, a global online education platform, was launched in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. 

Pakistan's HEC (Higher Education Commission) has established a partnership with Coursera to give access to online quality education in Pakistan.  As a result, more than 200 universities have gained access to Coursera’s library of courses.  Over 267,000 courses have been completed with students logging over 1.4 million learning hours. More than 45,000 learners have achieved deep-skills specialized certifications from internationally recognized institutions, the most popular specializations being Communication, Data Analysis, and Leadership and Management, according to Coursera. 

Ashar Aziz Foundation, created and funded by Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Ashar Aziz, has sponsored Advanced AI Bootcamps at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad.  The bootcamp series not only provides theoretical knowledge but also emphasizes practical, project-based learning, according to NUST. 

The first AI bootcamp, which focused on Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), was successfully completed at NUST in November 2023. The second bootcamp provided participants with in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in the development and application of LLMs (Large Language Models). Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology (GIKI) also joined this initiative in 2024, conducting its own DNN-focused bootcamp. Participants have the opportunity to work with advanced technologies, including access to a 10xH100 NVIDIA GPU AI supercomputer, ensuring they are well-prepared to tackle real-world challenges in AI. As part of its ongoing efforts, NUST plans to partner with additional universities across Pakistan to further scale this initiative, ensuring that more students have access to high-quality AI training, according to NUST. 

Smaller towns in Pakistan are also setting up AI programs with the help of Pakistani-Americans. For example, Stanford educated AI expert Shoaib Lari and Silicon Valley based technology executive Jalil Shaikh have helped Islamia University Bahawalpur start an AI program. Jalil Shaikh is now working with US-based companies to place the first group of graduates from this program. 

STEM education underlies Artificial Intelligence. Pakistan stands 4th in the world with 642,562 students enrolled in STEM courses– behind Nigeria (675,371), the US (4,639,771) and India (6,000,967), according to Coursera's Global Skills Report 2023. My own estimate based on HEC data is that STEM enrollment in Pakistan exceeds one million. 

The Pakistan government has released its National AI Policy Draft for comments. It focuses on how AI can help the country promote its national competitiveness and improve the lives of its citizens by outlining a wide range of developmental initiatives necessary for awareness and adoption of AI, reimagining the transparent and fair use of personal data using AI, and stimulating innovation through industry-academia collaborations and investments in AI-led initiatives. The Pakistan government has set up a National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). NCAI has created a a consortium model consisting of 6 public sector universities with 9 specialized research centers spread across Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar. 

Pakistan has also seen several private-sector led initiatives to create greater awareness of AI. For instance, Karachi.AI is recognized as a premier community for Applied AI practitioners. Established in 2017, the community proudly hosts over 10,000 members representing various domains. Its mission revolves around three central pillars: raising awareness, promoting engagement, and driving execution. Karachi. AI hosts regular meetups in Karachi, which are also live streamed on its YouTube channel, along with other educational content about AI.  

In addition to skilled human capital, the GenAI apps require a lot of digital public infrastructure, powerful computers and large data centers to securely store and rapidly access vast amounts of data. A number of private investors are jumping in to build data centers in Pakistan. Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) is planning to develop data centers across the country as part of an expansion into digital infrastructure.  Chakwal Spinning Mills Limited, has recently said it was pivoting to develop data centers.

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[Riaz Haq]

Labelers training AI say they're overworked, underpaid and exploited by big American tech companies - CBS News

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/labelers-training-ai-say-theyre-overwo...

Naftali Wambalo: I did labeling for videos and images.

Naftali and digital workers like him, spent eight hours a day in front of a screen studying photos and videos, drawing boxes around objects and labeling them, teaching the AI algorithms to recognize them.

Naftali Wambalo: You'd label, let's say, furniture in a house. And you say "This is a TV. This is a microwave." So you are teaching the AI to identify these items. And then there was one for faces of people. The color of the face. "If it looks like this, this is white. If it looks like this, it's Black. This is Asian." You're teaching the AI to identify them automatically.

Humans tag cars and pedestrians to teach autonomous vehicles not to hit them. Humans circle abnormalities to teach AI to recognize diseases. Even as AI is getting smarter, humans in the loop will always be needed because there will always be new devices and inventions that'll need labeling.

Lesley Stahl: You find these humans in the loop not only here in Kenya but in other countries thousands of miles from Silicon Valley. In India, the Philippines, Venezuela - often countries with large low wage populations - well educated but unemployed.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: Honestly, it's like modern-day slavery. Because it's cheap labor–

Lesley Stahl: Whoa. What do you –

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: It's cheap labor.

Like modern day slavery, says Nerima Wako-Ojiwa, a Kenyan civil rights activist, because big American tech companies come here and advertise the jobs as a ticket to the future. But really, she says, it's exploitation.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: What we're seeing is an inequality.

Lesley Stahl: It sounds so good. An AI job! Is there any job security?

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: The contracts that we see are very short-term. And I've seen people who have contracts that are monthly, some of them weekly, some of them days. Which is ridiculous.

She calls the workspaces AIi sweatshops with computers instead of sewing machines.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: I think that we're so concerned with "creating opportunities," but we're not asking, "Are they good opportunities?"

Because every year a million young people enter the job market, the government has been courting tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Intel to come here, promoting Kenya's reputation as the Silicon Savannah: tech savvy and digitally connected.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: The president has been really pushing for opportunities in AI –

Lesley Stahl: President?

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: Yes.

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Fasica: I was basically reviewing content which are very graphic, very disturbing contents. I was watching dismembered bodies or drone attack victims. You name it. You know, whenever I talk about this, I still have flashbacks.

Lesley Stahl: Are any of you a different person than they were before you had this job?

Fasica: Yeah. I find it hard now to even have conversations with people. It's just that I find it easier to cry than to speak.

Nathan: You continue isolating you-- yourself from people. You don't want to socialize with others. It's you and it's you alone.

Lesley Stahl: Are you a different person?

Naftali Wambalo: Yeah. I'm a different person. I used to enjoy my marriage, especially when it comes to bedroom fireworks. But after the job I hate sex.

Lesley Stahl: You hated sex?

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These three and nearly 200 other digital workers are suing SAMA and Meta over "unreasonable working conditions" that caused psychiatric problems

[Riaz Haq]

Global Times
@globaltimesnews
AI is rapidly transforming various industries in China, creating numerous job opportunities, including in the field of data labeling. Recently, Global Times reporters visited the Ningxia Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park in Wuzhong, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China, to explore how AI, as a new driving force in productivity, is generating not only new employment opportunities but also new challenges and trends. At a local data labeling base, young annotators can be seen busily identifying specific words in text or speech, outlining objects in images or videos, and tagging them on their computers.

https://x.com/globaltimesnews/status/1869594668180369511

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Inside the Ningxia Data Labeling Industrial Base in NW China

https://www.globaltimes.cn/galleries/5598.html

Editor's Note:
AI is rapidly transforming various industries in China, creating numerous job opportunities, including in the field of data labeling. Recently, Global Times reporters visited the Ningxia Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park in Wuzhong, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China, to explore how AI, as a new driving force in productivity, is generating not only new employment opportunities but also new challenges and trends. At a local data labeling base, young annotators can be seen busily identifying specific words in text or speech, outlining objects in images or videos, and tagging them on their computers. (Photos: Chen Tao/GT)