A policy brief submitted ahead of the federal budget has proposed the creation of a Rs. 3 billion National Artificial Intelligence Adoption Fund aimed at helping hundreds of Pakistani businesses integrate artificial intelligence into their day-to-day operations, addressing what analysts describe as one of the most significant gaps in the country’s digital economy agenda: the actual use of Artificial Intelligence by local companies rather than just the development of talent around it.
According to the proposal put forward by private-sector Artificial Intelligence consulting firm Densight Labs, eligible small and medium-sized enterprises could receive grants covering up to 40 percent of their Artificial Intelligence implementation costs, with individual funding capped at Rs. 5 million per company. Under this structure, the fund is expected to support approximately 600 businesses during its first phase of rollout, targeting a deliberately broad range of sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, agriculture technology, retail, and logistics. The breadth of the targeted industries reflects a recognition that Artificial Intelligence adoption is not a technology-sector-only challenge but one that cuts across the entire productive economy.
Companies that receive funding under the proposed scheme would be required to demonstrate measurable improvements following the deployment of Artificial Intelligence tools, with performance benchmarks tied to gains in productivity, operational efficiency, revenue growth, or cost reduction. This outcomes-based accountability mechanism is intended to ensure that the public investment translates into verifiable economic value rather than remaining at the level of infrastructure or capability that goes unused in practice. The proposal makes the case that Pakistan’s Artificial Intelligence challenge is fundamentally a two-sided problem: while significant attention and resources have been directed at building a pipeline of Artificial Intelligence-trained professionals, far less has been done to create the business-side demand and capacity necessary to absorb and utilise that talent at scale. Without a deliberate push to drive adoption among local enterprises, the report warned, the economic dividends that Artificial Intelligence is expected to deliver may remain largely out of reach for Pakistan’s broader economy regardless of how many individuals are trained in the technology.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
