ISLAMABAD: “Despite governments’ intention to develop policies for emerging technologies, there is still a long way to go for Pakistan to keep up with the rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape”, participants stressed in a stakeholder dialogue organised on AI by Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA) with the technical assistance of International Media Support (IMS).

The dialogue convened key stakeholders from Pakistan’s private tech sector, AI startups and legal community.

Muhammad Aftab Alam, Executive Director of IRADA, said that, “With over 200 AI-focused startups and a market estimated at $100 million, Pakistan’s private sector is actively innovating in AI-driven solutions across industries.”

Program Manager, Salwa Rana, briefed about IRADA’s recent research, which emphasised that Pakistan’s current legal and regulatory environment was ill-prepared for the complex implications of AI, such as issues around content ownership, liability, and data governance.

The dialogue, moderated by Moaz Bangu, drew comparisons with regional leaders like India and the UAE, whose AI regulatory frameworks offer valuable lessons for Pakistan. Using a structured five-step approach—find the friction, reframe the challenge, align interests, model fix, and execute next moves—the dialogue surfaced practical solutions, including the need for regulatory sandboxes, model IP clauses, and data governance policies.

The participants of the dialogue highlighted critical challenges: outdated and missing legal frameworks, a lack of skilled professionals, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to funding.

Shahzar Ali from Enablify AI was of the view that data was the major obstacle to developing indigenous AI models since most data was in an informal shape, largely stored in old-fashioned offline methods.

Co-founder of Eynvision, Haroon Wajid, also emphasised the importance of AI-oriented education in Pakistan and highlighted the need for revision of the curriculum to include courses on emerging technologies. Manahil Kashif from Atom Camp said that such progress was possible if multiple stakeholders collaborate to promote training and capacity building on AI.

The session concluded with a shared commitment for increased engagement between civil society, tech industry and government, and to co-develop, startup-informed and actionable policy recommendations to foster responsible, competitive AI innovation in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2025