A new survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan has found that only 15 percent of Pakistanis have used artificial intelligence tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, placing the country considerably behind global artificial intelligence adoption trends at a time when its government is simultaneously investing in ambitious targets for artificial intelligence-led economic transformation. The survey found that 85 percent of citizens remain unaware of artificial intelligence chatbot technology altogether, indicating that Pakistan is still in a very early and access-constrained phase of artificial intelligence adoption despite the growing visibility of these tools in global media and among the country’s educated urban population.
The education gap exposed by the data is particularly sharp. Among Pakistanis with lower levels of education, only 8 percent report using artificial intelligence tools, while those with higher educational qualifications use artificial intelligence at a rate of 52 percent, a 44 percentage point difference that reflects how tightly access to and awareness of these technologies remains tied to formal education levels in Pakistan. Age is an equally significant variable, with Pakistanis under 30 leading adoption at 26 percent, while those aged 30 to 39 report a considerably lower rate of just 10 percent. Adoption continues to fall with each successive age bracket, reaching 8 percent among those aged 40 to 49 and 7 percent among those between 50 and 59, a pattern consistent with global trends but more pronounced in Pakistan given lower baseline digital literacy across older cohorts.
The survey findings arrive against a backdrop of significant policy ambition. Pakistan announced plans earlier this year to invest USD 1 billion in artificial intelligence as part of a broader push to modernise its economy, with the strategy targeting the training of one million artificial intelligence professionals, the launch of 50,000 civic projects, and the development of 1,000 locally built artificial intelligence products by 2030. The proposal also includes 3,000 annual artificial intelligence scholarships, 1,000 research projects, inclusive education financing for women and persons with disabilities, and partnerships aligned with international artificial intelligence standards. Last month, the government concluded its fifth generation spectrum auction, selling 480 megahertz of spectrum for USD 507 million across multiple bands, laying the connectivity infrastructure on which many artificial intelligence-enabled services will depend.
Experts cited in the survey noted that expanding digital education and raising public awareness across the country could lead to a significant increase in artificial intelligence adoption among Pakistani citizens. The data makes clear that the gap between Pakistan’s stated artificial intelligence ambitions and its current adoption reality is substantial, and that closing it will require interventions that go well beyond policy announcements to address the foundational constraints of digital literacy, device access, and education quality that currently determine who in Pakistan can actually engage with artificial intelligence tools in their daily lives.
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