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)

[Riaz Haq]

UNESCO Engaged Higher Education Institutions across Pakistan to Discuss Artificial Intelligence for a Sustainable Future

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-engaged-higher-education-...

To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) will make humanity smarter, or will we sublet our critical thinking skills?

UNESCO launched a MasterClass series in Pakistan to address some of the burning issues faced in the country to help explore solutions with the aim to create knowledge-based societies. In the efforts to promote and foster information sharing and knowledge transfer, UNESCO successfully concluded its first episode of the MasterClass Series, titled Harnessing the Era of Artificial Intelligence for a Sustainable Future. With UNESCO’s commitment to strengthening higher education of Pakistan and the strategic support from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the webinar brought together more than 200 participants from the academia, especially faculty members and university students from more than 15 higher education institutions across Pakistan to understand Pakistan’s vision in leveraging AI for socio-economic growth. The session focused on the international global framework incorporating ethical considerations in AI, and country’s efforts in expanding AI. The webinar commenced with a context setting by Mr. Hamza Khan Swati, National Professional Officer (Communication and Information), UNESCO in Pakistan, who highlighted the growing use of AI and its impact on our lives. During the opening remarks, Mr. Antony Kar Hung Tam, Officer-in-Charge emphasized the role of shaping ethical and inclusive digital transformation surrounding AI in the world and Pakistan.



The webinar brought together two keynote experts. Mr. Gustavo Fonseca Ribeiro, working on strengthening capacities of civil servants and judiciary on AI and Digital Transformation at UNESCO, discussed AI’s potential in public sector service delivery.



Dr. Aneel Salman, Chair of the National AI Policy, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, provided insights into Pakistan’s strategic approach to integrating AI at the national level. Dr. Salman highlighted the rapid evolution of AI technologies and their role in reshaping labor markets. Reports indicate that 44 percent of workers face skill disruptions due to AI-driven automation, making cognitive skills, creative thinking, and technology literacy crucial for future employment. Discussions also emphasized on the increasing demand for AI and big data expertise across industries such as management, media, entertainment, health, education, hospitality and information technology (IT) services.



Key takeaways from the session included the recognition of AI as a game changer for Pakistan. Participants emphasized the need for an inclusive AI policy framework, greater knowledge transfer to enhance understanding of AI ethics and international norms, and the importance of AI-driven innovation in socio-economic development.



In Pakistan, UNESCO is actively expanding efforts to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration in alignment with recommendations on Ethics in AI, particularly concerning fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and access to information. The organization continues to support ongoing policy interventions in AI and is working on preparing policy recommendations.

Additionally, UNESCO is committed to enhancing the education sector by building the capacities of public-school teachers to integrate AI into learning and assessment processes, promoting its ethical and effective use in classrooms in Pakistan.



UNESCO will continue this MasterClass series in Pakistan. University students, educators, and professionals interested in AI and digital transformation are encouraged to participate in future MasterClass episodes.

[Riaz Haq]

Nury Vittachi
@NuryVittachi
There is no race between China and the US to be top player in AI development, says a new report from Nature, the world's top science journal.

The two countries are on different tracks with different endpoints. The US has been leading the pack in making big, headline-grabbing projects like ChatGPT, while China's focus has been, and remains, the production of practical AI programs that help industrialists, farmers, business people and factories.

AI programs in China are being used "to make trains run on time, monitor fish stocks and provide automated telehealth services," says the report by science writer Jacob Dreyer in the latest edition of the scientific publication.

Ultimately, China will do its usual thing, passing the systems that work to other nations, "especially to lower-income countries," the report says.

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DIFFERENT SOURCES OF SUPPORT
In the west, companies need to have innovative ideas that make an impact in the media to attract venture capitalists to invest. In contrast, China has more of an engineering school approach—projects must have practical benefit and be shown to be working to get government investment.

"The divergence in priorities reflects the forces driving innovation in each economy: venture capital in the United States and large-scale manufacturing enterprises and organs of the state in China," Dreyer says.

That doesn't mean that Chinese AI projects are always smaller. One of them is to integrate AI into a system to control the national grid so that the best use can be made of energy.

China is keen to keep its reputation as a leader in making clean energy options affordable around the world. "Its emerging AI playbook mirrors its approach to other technologies, such as electric vehicles and clean energy: not the first to innovate, but the first to make them affordable for widespread use," Dreyer writes.

The huge attention paid to DeepSeek, a relatively cheap but high performance AI chatbot, has hidden the difference in strategies, inspiring journalists to conjure up the colorful but ultimately inaccurate scenario of a US-China AI "arms race".

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STRATEGIC PLAN - FOR FARMERS
The appearance of the Nature report happily coincided with the February 20 publication of a Chinese government "strategic plan" for farmers to use scientific developments, including AI and genetic modification, to boost crop production and help the country move towards food self-sufficiency. You can't get much more practical than that.

Other recent data also bolsters the theory that Chinese AI projects may be lower profile, but have already made more inroads in business and industry.

A recent international study of usage of AI revealed that more respondents from China – 83 per cent – said their companies were using AI, than respondents from the United States – at only 65 per cent. In fact, the data in the SAS Generative AI Global Research Report shows that China was ahead of all other nations in the study in this regard (see pic).

[from fridayeveryday. com]


https://x.com/NuryVittachi/status/1894277527151284232

[Riaz Haq]

Profit
@Profitpk
About 8.6% of Pakistanis over the age of 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher. It is a growing number, with college graduates increasing by three times the population growth rate. What does this mean for Pakistan, especially in the age of AI? {THREAD}

https://x.com/Profitpk/status/1895013898937397564

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The state of higher education in Pakistan
How educated is the Pakistani workforce, and what is it prepared for, especially in the age of AI?

February 24, 2025
Farooq Tirmizi
By Farooq Tirmizi

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2025/02/24/the-state-of-higher-...

The college-educated Pakistani is not yet the majority, but is rapidly becoming part of the norm.

More than half a million Pakistanis graduate from a college or university every year with at least a two-year college degree. A little more than 11% of 30-year-olds in Pakistan have at least a two-year college degree and, judging by the fact that the number of graduates is growing at three times the population growth rate, that number will likely keep on rising for every subsequent generation of 30-year-olds in the country.

So what do those statistics mean? It is by now cliché to assume that the quality of higher education in Pakistan is not good (partly true) and that while the country has a lot of raw talent, the country is not prepared for the rapid advancement of technology that will necessitate a much better trained workforce than the one we have now.


There is no denying the fact that education – both in terms of quality and quantity – is lacking in Pakistan. It is the contention of this publication, expressed through previous analytical writings, however, that the situation can be described as not ideal, but far from hopeless.

While in previous articles we have covered basic literacy and numeracy, in this piece will cover higher education, placing it in both historical context relative to where it has been in Pakistan’s own past, as well as the global context: where Pakistan stands relative to peer economies and geographic neighbours.

We will then examine a question often left unasked: exactly how well-educated does the median Pakistani need to be, given where the country is in its economic evolution? And how has the answer to that question changed with the advent of the recent, more visible, rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI)?

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistani tech firm launches first ‘home grown’ GPT platform | Arab News

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594353/pakistan


Zahanat AI is a text-based generative AI model that enables users to engage in human-like conversations, answer queries, and assist in various domains
Its key differentiator is its hosting and local training on Pakistani culture and localized issues, which makes it equipped to address regional challenges

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Meet the woman who made Pakistan's first AI chatbot

https://theprint.in/go-to-pakistan/woman-pakistans-first-ai-chatbot...

The platform is designed to empower Pakistani citizens, particularly in sectors like education and healthcare. One of Zahanat’s most anticipated developments is the upcoming Z2 model, which will support Urdu and multiple regional languages. This is a game-changer for more than half of Pakistan’s population, a large part of which struggleswith English or even Urdu.

Ali imagines the platform being used by a rural student to access world-class education in their native Sindhi or Pashto. She dreams of Zahanat helping an elderly womanreceive her healthcare diagnosis in Balochi.

“We’re not just enabling access to AI, we’re redefining who gets to be part of the ecosystem. We’re moving from a digital divide to digital empowerment. This isn’t just tech progress. It’s social progress,” Ali said.

Zahanat is a personal mission for Ali to break the gender barriers that persist in tech. She has faced bias in the male-dominated industry, both spoken and unspoken.

“When I lead a project like Zahanat, it’s not just innovation, it’s disruption. It’s proof that women can lead tech.”

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Kineto: K-Electric Becomes Pakistan’s First Power Utility to launch Generative AI Chatbot To Enhance Customer Experience

https://propakistani.pk/2025/03/26/kineto-k-electric-becomes-pakist...

“Users of the KE Live App have grown by 21% annually over the last 5 years and now stand at 1.3 million digitally connected customers. This is over one-third of KE’s total customer base and conveys our digital-savvy population. We then heralded another innovation when we launched the WhatsApp platform back in 2021, and now this platform caters to over 2.0 million people. Additionally, nearly another half a million subscribe to our e-billing feature, a step that helps save Pakistan paper and reduce its import bill.”

“Now, leading the way with digital transformation in customer engagement, Kineto was just the next logical step forward reflecting our investment in future-ready digital platforms, further transforming the way Karachi’s customers interact with its power utility.”

The chatbot has been developed in collaboration with Convex Interactive, KE’s technology partner for this initiative.

“This partnership with K-Electric aligns with our mission to revolutionize customer engagement through AI,” said Aamir Irfan Siddiqui, CEO & Founder of Convex Interactive. “By leveraging generative AI, we’re making customer interactions faster, smarter, and more intuitive.”

[Riaz Haq]

TCF set to bring AI-powered learning to teachers with Khanmigo

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1296015-tcf-set-to-bring-ai-powere...

The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and Khan Academy Pakistan have announced an innovative AI-powered collaboration to support teachers and enhance classroom learning in selected TCF schools.

This pilot initiative aims to empower teachers by enhancing teachers’ lesson delivery, fostering critical thinking, and improving classroom engagement for students in Grades 6-8. Under this collaboration, Khanmigo will be integrated into selected TCF schools to enhance mathematics and science instruction.

Unlike traditional AI, Khanmigo acts as an interactive teaching assistant, helping educators enhance their knowledge, craft lesson hooks, develop quizzes, and foster deeper student engagement.

The pilot programme will equip teachers with AI-driven teacher tools, provide structured prompts to guide teachers to develop learning material relevant to their students, and offer bilingual support in English and Urdu.

Additionally, Khan Academy Pakistan will train school leaders on effective AI integration, offering guidance on best practices for using Khanmigo in classrooms. This initiative will empower TCF teachers to refine their teaching methods, personalise learning experiences, and drive meaningful classroom discussions, making AI-driven learning more accessible, structured, and engaging for students. “At TCF, we want to ensure that technology serves as a bridge to better learning opportunities rather than a barrier,” shared Syed Asaad Ayub Ahmad, the president and CEO of TCF.

“We are hopeful that Khanmigo will be useful in serving as a thinking partner for TCF teachers in the classroom and a transformative step towards making high-quality education accessible and engaging.”

One of Khanmigo’s most promising features is its bilingual support, allowing teachers to instruct in both English and Urdu. This ensures that educators from diverse backgrounds can fully engage with the content. As the programme progresses, regional language support will be explored, further broadening its accessibility.

“Khanmigo aims to give every child in Pakistan access to world-class education,” said Zeeshan Hasan, CEO of Khan Academy Pakistan. “By empowering teachers, we are ensuring that AI becomes a tool for empowerment rather than a shortcut. This partnership with TCF is a step forward towards transforming how education is delivered in classrooms.”

“TCF strongly believes in the power of good teachers, and there is an undeniable social aspect of learning from a teacher. We are hopeful that KhanMigo will augment teacher skills to make classroom experience fun, engaging, and meaningful for the students,” shared Shazia Kamal, executive vice president, Outcomes at TCF.

With Pakistan facing a critical education crisis and a shortage of trained teachers, AI-powered solutions like Khanmigo offer a scalable and cost-effective way to enhance teaching quality.

While this initiative is currently in its pilot phase, TCF and Khan Academy Pakistan envision expanding the programme to more schools.

As AI continues to reshape global education, this partnership reaffirms TCF’s commitment to equipping teachers with the best tools to inspire and educate the next generation of Pakistan’s changemakers.

TCF is a non-profit organisation set up in 1995 by a group of citizens who wanted to bring about positive social change through education.

The 30-year-old organisation is among Pakistan’s leading organisations in the field of education, educating 301,000 students across 2,033 school units in the country.