AI: A governance priority

The lightning pace of technological advancement, especially the advent and mainstream adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the globe in such a short span of time, has caught so many developing countries off guard.

Already struggling with the most basic aspects of digital transformation, these countries find themselves having to navigate a new unknown: the AI disruption. Such a rapidly evolving tech landscape prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene the first-ever Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in February this year where he cautioned that the world "may not even be ready for the present, let alone the future".

Pakistan has a long way to go in providing equitable digital access to its population of nearly 250 million, half of which are women. Despite the country’s economic and social development challenges, its people are making significant headway in technology.

The country is the fourth-largest market for freelancers in the world. The National Center of Artificial Intelligence Labs at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, has pioneered new AI-powered healthcare solutions, accurately detecting 98% of tuberculosis cases and 91% of brain tumours.

Mahrose Zufran, a 16-year-old student from Rehan Allahwala AI School in Karachi, recently made headlines for using AI to create a Sindhi calculator in three days for Sindhi speaking businessmen who do not have formal education. These examples offer a glimpse of what is possible when technological investments are made to empower people.

This month, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan’s National Human Development Report (NHDR) ‘Doing Digital for Development’ will commemorate one year since its launch in 2024. And this year’s first issue of Development Advocate Pakistan (DAP), UNDP Pakistan’s flagship quarterly journal, marks this milestone by exploring the AI landscape in Pakistan.

The NHDR 2024 revealed that Pakistan’s entrenched wealth inequalities have deepened the digital divide, with half of the country’s districts having low digital development rankings. Half of Pakistan also still lacks access to smartphones, basic internet services and computers. The report established that without digital development, human development levels will remain low in Pakistan. This is also reflected in Pakistan’s latest Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ranking, where only 19% of the country’s targets are on track. One bright spot in the NHDR was the effective use of digital wallets by women in Pakistan as 61% of women were using mobile wallets as their primary bank account.

In this DAP, there’s broad agreement among our contributors that as the world grapples with the challenges and opportunities of AI, the digital landscape in Pakistan is far from being a great equaliser. To do so, Pakistan should close the digital divide, ensuring that digital policies reduce inequality, and crowd in more collaboration.

At the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024, a Global Digital Compact was endorsed by member-states, including Pakistan. It offers a critical framework and roadmap for governing digital technologies and AI, focusing on three goals for inclusive digital futures: closing the digital divides and delivering an inclusive digital economy; building an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space; and strengthening international data governance and governing AI for humanity.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications drafted a National AI Policy 2024 that aims to integrate AI into the national curricula and offer fiscal incentives to startups and small/medium enterprises. But policy must go hand in hand with a commitment to universal internet access if Pakistan is to harness AI’s benefits. This means providing affordable solutions to technology, and mobilising investments in reliable digital infrastructure, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Pakistan must also tackle its chronic challenges in education and employment to meet the demands of AI automation. AI will create new jobs, but only for a highly specialised workforce. AI will also lead to some redundancies where ‘routine-based roles’ such as clerks, secretaries and machine operations – jobs currently held by 42% of Pakistanis — could be rendered obsolete by automation. Therefore, Pakistan must urgently invest in reskilling in AI, offering basic digital literacy for its poorer factions and reforming education to further prioritise Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

How does this all stick? When AI becomes a governance priority. Building on the 2024 NHDR’s 4As framework — Access, Adopt, Anticipate, Accelerate — the UNDP’s pilot programming will boost SDG-aligned governance by integrating AI-augmented data systems into annual planning and budgeting, real-time monitoring, and data-informed decision-making.

With only five years remaining for Agenda 2030, Pakistan must sprint towards the AI finish line, powered by unmatched ambition and potential; 2025 can be the year to realise both.

The writer is the resident representative of UNDP Pakistan.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer's own and don't necessarily reflect Geo.tv's editorial policy.

Originally published in The News