Pakistan remains largely unprepared for artificial intelligence, with weak and fragmented data systems leaving the country without a clear picture of how AI is being adopted across its economy. While experts and business leaders in more advanced economies continue to grapple with the technology’s full implications, Pakistan’s early stage of digitisation means the country is even less equipped to manage the risks or capture the benefits that AI could bring.
A mix of scepticism and enthusiasm currently surrounds AI use across the country. Educated youth and a large share of service sector employees have grown increasingly familiar with tools such as ChatGPT, supported by widespread smartphone and internet access, yet limited understanding of the technology has left many workers concerned it could further shrink an already tight job market. At the same time, businesses have shown growing interest in adopting cost effective AI applications to cut wage costs while improving efficiency. Doctor Dur e Nayab, former director of research at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, said she did not believe anyone fully understood the consequences of AI adoption at this stage.
A core part of the problem lies in how Pakistan’s statistical infrastructure was originally built. Doctor Naeem Zafar, Chief Statistician at the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, confirmed the agency does not currently collect any data on AI adoption across either the public or private sector. While the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey does track general use of information and communication technology, it contains no specific questions on AI, leaving the country without systematically compiled data on how the technology is being used across different industries. The bureau’s labour force survey similarly tracks employment across broad categories such as manufacturing, retail, and services, but does not identify occupations most vulnerable to automation, including software development, editing, accounting, data processing, and customer service roles, despite AI’s growing use in banking, telecommunications, and media.
According to available information, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has circulated a draft data protection and governance framework for public and industry feedback, alongside establishing the Pakistan Digital Authority and developing technology and AI innovation hubs nationwide. Former Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan chairman Akif Saeed noted that many businesses in Pakistan still rely on photocopies and attested paper documents, meaning genuine digitisation remains incomplete even before AI adoption is considered, and that the regulator does not maintain comprehensive data on AI usage across listed companies.
Muhammad Shahzar Illahi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of EnablifyAI, said AI adoption in Pakistan remains limited despite widespread general interest in the technology. Drawing on his firm’s work with clients including UBL, Gallup, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Telenor, and Jazz, he said banks are currently leading adoption by building in-house AI applications and hiring dedicated AI engineers, while most other businesses still lack a formal AI strategy. He noted that although the large majority of executives and professionals his firm trains use ChatGPT regularly, many remain unaware of basic data security risks tied to public AI platforms, and warned that routine white collar roles spanning data entry, financial analysis, compliance, and human resources face the greatest disruption from automation going forward.
Experts remain divided on the best path forward. Some argue Pakistan must move quickly to adopt AI in order to boost productivity and remain globally competitive, while cautioning against simply importing foreign models without adapting them to local economic and social realities. Others believe the immediate priority should be building basic AI literacy among policymakers and corporate leadership before deploying the technology at scale, given how limited current understanding remains across both government and the private sector. With Punjab currently leading provincial level AI initiatives and federal data governance policies still at an early implementation stage, analysts say closing the gap between Pakistan’s AI ambitions and its underlying data and institutional readiness will remain a central challenge in the years ahead.
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