Pakistan is currently classified as a lower middle income country, with ambition to become a high-income country. Its policymakers are now recognizing that no country has transitioned from middle-income to high-income status without generating lots of electricity at affordable rates. The link between energy and prosperity has been well-established since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The AI Revolution has further reinforced it. Can Pakistan make the transition…

With the expansion of the internet access in rural areas, several local language AI applications have recently been launched for downloads by farmers in Pakistan. These apps help with crop planning, soil sensing, personalized fertilizer recommendations, disease diagnoses, weather forecasts and market prices. A couple of these have been downloaded by half a million or more farmers in the country. Some of these apps use open source large language models (LLMs) like…