It is no longer a matter of choice: artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived. While the world acknowledges its transformative potential, even experts and business leaders in advanced economies are still grappling with its full implications and remain far from confident of managing them.
Pakistan, still at an early stage of digitisation with weak, fragmented data systems, appears largely unprepared. But a lack of readiness will neither shield the country from AI’s risks to its economy and labour market nor enable it to realise the dividends of technological advances in an inclusive manner.
A strange mix of scepticism and euphoria surrounds AI in Pakistan. Educated youth and a large percentage of service sector employees are familiar with and increasingly use ChatGPT and other AI tools, aided by widespread smartphone and internet access. Yet, with limited awareness and understanding of AI, many dread it will further erode already scarce job opportunities. At the same time, businesses are eagerly exploring cost-effective AI applications to reduce their wage bills while improving efficiency and productivity.
Dr Dur e Nayab, former director of research at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), was candid about AI’s implications. “That’s a difficult question,” she said. “I don’t know anyone who truly understands AI’s full consequences, though that may also reflect my own limited knowledge of the subject”.
