PakAlumni Worldwide: The Global Social Network
Is Pakistan Getting Ready For AI Revolution?
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has taken the world by a storm. It has drawn the attention of academia, businesses and governments around the world. This technology is expected to transform almost every sector from business and commerce to government, industries and defense. Are Pakistanis aware of its potential? Is Pakistan getting ready for what is being described as the "AI Revolution"? Let's examine the answers to these questions.
AI awareness is rising among Pakistan’s general public. The country ranks third with 76% of people being aware of ChatGPT, according to Stanford University’s AI Index Report 2024 covering a survey of 31 countries, including the United States, Europe and East Asia. India (82%), Kenya (81%), Indonesia (76%), and Pakistan (76%) have the highest awareness rates in the world. Brazil and Canada have 64% awareness, UK and Japan 61%, China, Germany and France 60% and the US 55%. Poland reported the lowest awareness, at 43%. Globally, 17% of users utilize it daily, 36% weekly, and 16% monthly. India (36%), Pakistan (28%), and Kenya(27%) report the highest levels of daily usage.
Pakistan is among the top 4 countries for enrollment in Coursera online GenAI courses, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Brazil, make up more than half (52%) of GenAI enrollments on Coursera. It offers more than 4,600 courses and 55 Professional Certificates in up to 21 popular languages, including Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish. Coursera, a global online education platform, was launched in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.
Pakistan's HEC (Higher Education Commission) has established a partnership with Coursera to give access to online quality education in Pakistan. As a result, more than 200 universities have gained access to Coursera’s library of courses. Over 267,000 courses have been completed with students logging over 1.4 million learning hours. More than 45,000 learners have achieved deep-skills specialized certifications from internationally recognized institutions, the most popular specializations being Communication, Data Analysis, and Leadership and Management, according to Coursera.
Ashar Aziz Foundation, created and funded by Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Ashar Aziz, has sponsored Advanced AI Bootcamps at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad. The bootcamp series not only provides theoretical knowledge but also emphasizes practical, project-based learning, according to NUST.
The first AI bootcamp, which focused on Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), was successfully completed at NUST in November 2023. The second bootcamp provided participants with in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in the development and application of LLMs (Large Language Models). Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology (GIKI) also joined this initiative in 2024, conducting its own DNN-focused bootcamp. Participants have the opportunity to work with advanced technologies, including access to a 10xH100 NVIDIA GPU AI supercomputer, ensuring they are well-prepared to tackle real-world challenges in AI. As part of its ongoing efforts, NUST plans to partner with additional universities across Pakistan to further scale this initiative, ensuring that more students have access to high-quality AI training, according to NUST.
Smaller towns in Pakistan are also setting up AI programs with the help of Pakistani-Americans. For example, Stanford educated AI expert Shoaib Lari and Silicon Valley based technology executive Jalil Shaikh have helped Islamia University Bahawalpur start an AI program. Jalil Shaikh is now working with US-based companies to place the first group of graduates from this program.
STEM education underlies Artificial Intelligence. Pakistan stands 4th in the world with 642,562 students enrolled in STEM courses– behind Nigeria (675,371), the US (4,639,771) and India (6,000,967), according to Coursera's Global Skills Report 2023. My own estimate based on HEC data is that STEM enrollment in Pakistan exceeds one million.
The Pakistan government has released its National AI Policy Draft for comments. It focuses on how AI can help the country promote its national competitiveness and improve the lives of its citizens by outlining a wide range of developmental initiatives necessary for awareness and adoption of AI, reimagining the transparent and fair use of personal data using AI, and stimulating innovation through industry-academia collaborations and investments in AI-led initiatives. The Pakistan government has set up a National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). NCAI has created a a consortium model consisting of 6 public sector universities with 9 specialized research centers spread across Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar.
Pakistan has also seen several private-sector led initiatives to create greater awareness of AI. For instance, Karachi.AI is recognized as a premier community for Applied AI practitioners. Established in 2017, the community proudly hosts over 10,000 members representing various domains. Its mission revolves around three central pillars: raising awareness, promoting engagement, and driving execution. Karachi. AI hosts regular meetups in Karachi, which are also live streamed on its YouTube channel, along with other educational content about AI.
In addition to skilled human capital, the GenAI apps require a lot of digital public infrastructure, powerful computers and large data centers to securely store and rapidly access vast amounts of data. A number of private investors are jumping in to build data centers in Pakistan. Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) is planning to develop data centers across the country as part of an expansion into digital infrastructure. Chakwal Spinning Mills Limited, has recently said it was pivoting to develop data centers.
Related Links:
2021: A Banner Year For Tech Startups in Pakistan
Algorithm: Origins of Artificial Intelligence in Islamic Age
Digital Pakistan 2022: Broadband Penetration Soars to 90% of 15+ Population
STEM Enrollment in Pakistan Exceeds One Million
Digital Public Infrastructure in Pakistan
Solar Power Boom in Pakistan
Pakistan at 75
Growing Presence of Pakistani Women in Science and Technology
Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel
Riaz Haq
AI-enabled public governance
Pakistan’s National AI Policy 2025 aims to make AI part of public governance by 2035, powering e-governance, health, taxation and education—while tackling privacy, cybersecurity and skills gaps.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/07/27/ai-enabled-public-gover...
Pakistan has taken a proactive step in its AI agenda with the formulation of the National Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025. It seeks to create an inclusive and ethical AI environment and establish Pakistan as an AI hub for the region by 2035.
Pakistan has also initiated digitalization, e-governance, e-health, e-education, and public–private partnerships in the wake of Vision 2025 and the Digital Pakistan Policy 2018. Public services, healthcare, Taxation, Law Enforcement, Higher Education, Research, etc., are increasingly driven by the use of AI and are associated with programs like the National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) and the Sino-Pak Center for Artificial Intelligence (SPCAI).
Artificial Intelligence will be a game-changer in Pakistan's governance and economy, said Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal. The government has ambitions to further develop AI-based digital infrastructure, with the development of Quantum Valley, National Innovation Fund, and evidence-based AI planning. By 2027, AI usage should be implemented in a core ministry task at least, with transparency, data privacy, fairness and ethical usage.
The government wants to use AI to boost the quality of education, health care, trade, research, and public administration, as part of its vision to propel the country to a $1 trillion economy by 2035. The federal government has suggested a big National AI Ecosystem Development Program with an estimated cost of Rs. 283 billion but received Just Rs. 1 Billion in New Budget.
Pakistan is taking incremental steps towards incorporating AI into public governance, as seen in various applications like identity verification, tax administration, healthcare, and public service delivery. AI systems at NADRA and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have increased the efficiency of service, minimized fraud, and improved tax compliance.
AI-supported telemedicine is making healthcare more accessible in under-served regions. The National AI Policy 2025 outlines a detailed six pillar roadmap that emphasizes innovation, skill development, secure AI, infrastructure, sectoral transformation, and international cooperation, and sets ambitious targets like training one million individuals, setting up a National AI Fund, and establishing AI Centers of Excellence. Also, at the federal level, Pakistan is building an AI-powered digital governance platform to enhance coordination, transparency, accountability, and service delivery among ministries and the Prime Minister's Office.
Pakistan is far behind in the Government AI Readiness Index, 92nd position, whereas countries like the USA (1st), China (17th) and India (32nd) are ahead. Even with the strides made, Pakistan has some hurdles to overcome in the public sector to make AI more widely adopted. However, there are a number of challenges in the way of the mainstreaming of AI in the public sector in Pakistan. The issue of cybersecurity and data privacy is also significant, with the potential for a breach to halt the entire AI system.
Pakistan's public sector must not lag behind the global AI revolution. According to PwC Pakistan (2025), the cost of lack of AI adoption in the public sector is estimated to be up to $7 billion for Pakistan by 2030.
Pakistan as lagging in the global digital economy, impacting its competitiveness, its ability to attract investment, and its very capacity to govern effectively in an increasingly complex world. One survey conducted by UNDP Pakistan in 2024 revealed that only 12% of government officials had undergone any formal training in AI principles or applications relevant to public administration.
Jul 27
Riaz Haq
Jul 27
Riaz Haq
Indus Cloud Launches Pakistan’s First Cisco AI GPU Cluster - Profit by Pakistan Today
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/08/11/master-groups-indus-...
Bringing the country's first brand-new NVIDIA H200 GPUs on Pakistani soil to accelerate the nation's AI revolution
LAHORE: Master Group's Indus Cloud, Pakistan's First AI-Ready, Renewable-Powered Enterprise Cloud, today announced the launch of the country's first Cisco AI GPU Cluster powered by the latest NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPUs, making brand-new NVIDIA H200 GPUs available on Pakistani soil for the very first time.
This milestone marks a significant step in supercharging Pakistan's AI ecosystem by providing researchers, enterprises, startups, universities, and government organizations with access to world-class accelerated computing infrastructure—without the latency, compliance, and data sovereignty challenges of relying solely on overseas cloud providers.
The Cisco AI infrastructure, integrated with NVIDIA H200 GPUs, is purpose-built to support demanding AI workloads including large language models (LLMs), generative AI, AI training and fine-tuning, high-performance inference, computer vision, and advanced analytics.
Hosted within Indus Cloud's purpose-built AI-ready infrastructure, the platform delivers enterprise-grade performance, scalability, security, and reliability while enabling organizations to build and deploy AI solutions from within Pakistan.
"Artificial Intelligence will define the next era of economic growth, industrial competitiveness, and national innovation. As Master Group, we are building the infrastructure Pakistan needed someone to build. We must build the digital infrastructure necessary to participate in this transformation—not simply consume it. The launch of Pakistan's first Cisco AI GPU Cluster powered by NVIDIA H200 GPUs is an important milestone towards creating sovereign AI capability and empowering our innovators, enterprises, and public sector with world-class computing resources."
— Shahzad Malik, Managing Director, Master Group of Industries
"This is more than the launch of new infrastructure; it is the foundation for Pakistan's AI future. By bringing the latest NVIDIA H200 GPUs into the country, Indus Cloud is eliminating a major barrier for organizations seeking access to advanced AI compute. Our mission is to make enterprise-grade AI infrastructure accessible, scalable, and locally available so Pakistan's brightest minds can innovate faster while keeping their data and workloads within the country."
-----------
Indus Cloud operates and plans enterprise infrastructure facilities with capacities ranging up to 20MW. This includes a solar-powered setup scaling up to 5MW in Lahore, a site in Nooriabad with up to 20MW of capacity, and broader regional AI data center ecosystem deployments in Pakistan (such as Sky47's 8.5MWKarakorum-01 facility in Islamabad developed with ZTE). [1, 2, 3, 4]
Facility Capacities and Locations
Lahore Facility: Features a 500 high-powered rack setup in NSIT Park backed by solar power up to 5MW.
Nooriabad Facility: Designed with up to 20MW of total capacity.
** Islamabad / Related Ecosystem Projects:** Connected large-scale AI and sovereign cloud platforms feature initial power footprints scaling at 8.5MW. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Technology and Infrastructure Highlights
Power & Efficiency: Utilizes advanced deployments like Huawei PowerPod systems to reduce physical footprint and lower energy consumption.
AI Readiness: Built to host high-density AI clusters, enterprise cloud computing, and sovereign data storage workloads within Pakistan. [1, 2, 3]
yesterday