Pakistan to Develop Urdu LLM for Generative AI

by Riaz Haq

Nov 7, 2024

National University of Science and Technology (NUST), National Information Technology Board (NITB) and Telecom network operator Jazz have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop Pakistan’s first indigenous Large Language Model (LLM) with focus on Urdu, including datasets for Pashto and Punjabi languages. It is aimed at empowering individuals, businesses, and organizations with advanced AI tools in their native languages. The envisioned LLM is expected to drive innovation in Generative AI applications, boosting productivity and accessibility in critical sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture.

GPT-4 Accuracy Scores. Source: The Economist

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are powered by large language models, or LLMs. These models need to be trained on vast amounts of data in specific languages to be useful. Unfortunately, the Urdu content of the Internet is less than 0.1%. This will present a challenge for the developers of Urdu LLMs.

Online Content of Various Languages. Source: W3Techs 

Lack of Urdu content available for training ChatGPT affects the accuracy of the results for Urdu language users. For example, the GPT-4 accuracy score in question-answer tests in Urdu is just over 70%, compared with 85% accuracy score in the English language, according to data from OpenAI. Other South Asian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi and Telugu, suffer from the same problem. 

It's not just a South Asian problem. These challenges exist in the developing world. Non-European languages are generally poorly represented online. It's a major obstacle for non-European nations in developing their own generative artificial-intelligence (AI) models, which rely on vast amounts of training data. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) can produce biased results due to a number of factors, including the data it's trained on, the algorithms used, and how it's deployed. 

The use of AI in developing nations such as Pakistan will remain limited to a small number of people proficient in the use of the English language. Broadening the adoption of AI applications will require LLMs trained on local language content. The absence of this development could cost Pakistan the opportunity to take full advantage of the AI Revolution. 

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  • Riaz Haq

    Gates Foundation Pledges $1 Billion to Combat A.I. Inequality - The New York Times

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/technology/bill-gates-ai-foundat...

    The funding will be used to support A.I. projects in health care, agriculture and education, and to develop data sets in more languages.

    ———

    The Gates Foundation has pledged to spend at least $1 billion over the next two years to expand global access to artificial intelligence and use it to tackle social inequalities.

    The intervention came amid a growing debate over the risks posed by the technology, with many of the industry’s leading figures calling for a slowdown in its development.

    The foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, released on Monday, advocated an urgent effort to ensure that A.I. “helps narrow gaps between the richest and poorest rather than widening them.”


    ———

    “The window to influence who benefits, and how soon, is short,” the report argued.

    If A.I. keeps developing as it is, “the most capable tools will be built first for the people and institutions most able to pay for them,” according to the report, “not necessarily for those who could benefit most.”

    Most of the data used to train the early large language models was in English, according to the report, “leaving many communities that could benefit from A.I. poorly represented in the data on which these tools were built.”

    The foundation said that it would divide the new funding among external groups working on its priorities, spanning work like encouraging A.I. use among doctors, farmers and teachers, or developing data sets in more languages. Though significant, the funding is a small fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars at the disposal of commercial A.I. firms.

    Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft and the chairman of the Gates Foundation, has warned that A.I. could pose a grave threat to jobs and human life. “In terms of equity, A.I. will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice,” he wrote in an essay on his personal website last month, predicting that the transition to the new A.I. era would be one of the “most turbulent times in human history.”


    According to Mr. Gates, who no longer works at Microsoft, the tech industry is knowingly downplaying threats posed by A.I., because there is so much money on the line.

    The Gates Foundation’s announcement came after the chief executive of Anthropic called for a global slowdown of A.I. development after one of the company’s employees quit over concerns about the safety of the technology. Top executives at other major A.I. companies, including Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI; Elon Musk, who founded SpaceXAI; and Demis Hassabis, the chair of Google DeepMind agreed on the need for a slower pace.

    Last month, Mr. Gates warned that A.I. would spread across the economy, possibly causing job losses across the economy and leaving little room for one industry to absorb the refugees from another. The biggest tech companies in the world, including Microsoft, are racing to help corporate customers adopt A.I., and have said it could replace many workers.

    On Monday, Mr. Gates urged the governments and companies developing the technology to focus on how A.I. could help people who have most to gain from the technology, rather than the most profitable users.

    “We can harness A.I. for good,” Mr. Gates wrote. “But it won’t happen by accident.”

    Sep 27

  • Riaz Haq

    . [1, 2]
    Key Urdu and Multilingual AI Platforms for Farmers
    • Kissan Dost Bashir: Launched by Telenor Pakistan via its Khushaal Watan platform, this is a 24/7 Urdu conversational voice bot available by dialing 7272 or visiting 7272.pk. It provides real-time mandi (market) rates, weather advisories, and livestock guidance. [1]
    • Savera: Developed by Syngenta through the Cropwise Grower app, Savera is an AI-powered farming advisor that understands regional languages including Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, and Siraiki to help with crop care and pest management. [1]
    • KissanBot: Built by Concave AGRI, KissanBot offers context-aware text and speech answers in Urdu covering major crops like wheat, rice, and maize using updates from provincial agriculture databases. Learn more at Concave AGRI KissanBot. [1, 2]
    • Urdu AI / Urdu AI Dost: A grassroots initiative turning artificial intelligence into practical learning for rural communities, farmers, and students across Pakistan. Explore their impact and resources at Urdu AI Impact. [1, 2]

    Oct 10

  • Riaz Haq

    Foreign artificial intelligence systems present a multi-layered threat to Pakistan, spanning cultural erosion, economic dependency, security challenges, and cyber risks. [1, 2, 3]
    Cultural and Identity Concerns
    • Erosion of Local Values: Federal IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja warned that foreign-developed large language models (such as ChatGPT) reflect external cultural assumptions—likening their output to the perspective of a young person in the West—which risks reshaping the worldviews of Pakistan's youth, who make up roughly two-thirds of the population. [1]
    • Marginalization of Languages and Heritage: Reliance on Western or external AI stacks threatens local languages (like Urdu and regional dialects), religious norms, and indigenous social frameworks. [1, 2, 3]
    Geopolitical and Strategic Risks
    • Control and Data Sovereignty: Pakistan is caught in the crossfire of a global AI ecosystem race between Western powers and China. Adopting foreign models forces the country to inherit external regulatory assumptions, privacy gaps, and compliance issues that conflict with local laws. [1]
    • Exclusion from Global Governance: Developing nations have largely been sidelined in setting international AI governance standards, deepening global digital and economic inequalities. [1]
    Security and Terrorism Multipliers
    • Militant Misuse: Research published by organizations like Anthropic highlights that AI lowers the barrier for automated coding, surveillance, and targeting recommendations. In Pakistan, militant groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) and cross-border actors risk using AI tools for propaganda, drone operations, and enhanced target selection. [1]
    • Disinformation and Synthetic Media: AI-generated deepfakes and fake media pose acute challenges to democratic governance and social cohesion, particularly amplified during regional geopolitical tensions (such as skirmishes with India). [1]
    Cyber and Financial Infrastructure Threats
    • AI-Enabled Cyberattacks: Pakistan's National Cyber Emergency Response Team (National CERT) issued Advisory No. 26 warning of AI-driven cyber threats targeting financial institutions, digital payment systems, capital markets, and critical infrastructure (oil, gas, power, and water grids). [1]
    • Automated Exploitation: Threat actors use AI to scale credential theft, social engineering, and automated reconnaissance against vulnerable digital networks. [1]
    Countermeasures and Domestic Response
    • Indigenization Efforts: Pakistan is working on local initiatives, such as the government-backed BuraqAI language model announced at the Global AI & Digital Summit 2026, to process Urdu and regional languages using local computing infrastructure. [1]
    • Policy Frameworks: The government is rolling out national data governance policies, personal data protection legislation, and updates to the National Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025 and National Cyber Security Policy to foster local compute capacity and human oversight. [1, 2]

    5 hours ago