Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has cautioned that fast progress in artificial intelligence could deepen AI economic inequality and social gaps in Pakistan and other developing countries. Speaking at the closing of the 29th Sustainable Development Conference and 4th Sustainable Investment Expo, organised in Islamabad by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), she said the country must stop relying mainly on imported tools and start building its own AI products and solutions.
She argued that the shift from the digital age to what she called the intelligent age—driven by generative AI (systems that create text, images and similar content) and agentic AI (systems that can take multi-step actions)—is reshaping economies, labour markets, classrooms and everyday society. For developing nations, she said, the speed of change could lock in disparities that become harder to close over time.
Skills, jobs and who gets left out
On employment, the minister rejected a simple story that machines will wipe out work. Instead she pointed to a skills split. “It’s not going to take our jobs away, but it will definitely create polarity between people who know AI and people who don’t know AI,” she said. Continuous learning, upskilling and reskilling, she added, are needed as job requirements change.
She said standard four-year university programmes are struggling to keep up with technology, so hybrid education and training models are required to give young people practical skills. Pakistan, she stressed, needs mathematicians, statisticians and AI specialists who can design algorithms and take part in building new systems—not only people who use products made elsewhere. She also urged universities, researchers, investors, policymakers and international development partners to work together so Pakistan and other emerging economies are not left behind.
Culture, language and young users
Beyond markets and wages, she said AI is touching cultural identity, languages, ethical values and how younger people learn. She noted children’s growing use of platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and raised concern that tools designed abroad can shape local culture and values.
To counter that risk, she emphasised building comprehensive linguistic datasets so Urdu and Pakistan’s regional languages are properly represented in AI systems. In her framing, AI social impact is not only about jobs and growth but also about whose language and knowledge count in the systems people use daily.
Digital plans and what the government says comes next
Linking the warning to the government’s digital agenda, she said the Digital Nation Pakistan Act had laid the groundwork for a national digital master plan covering the economy, society and governance. Goals she described included a cashless economy, a paperless government and a contactless society so citizens can reach public services more smoothly. She said the federal government had already moved to paperless operations, and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was personally pushing a cashless economy.
She listed initiatives such as the Pakistan Stack (shared digital infrastructure for services), sectoral digital transformation plans and interoperable data-exchange systems. Digital connectivity, cybersecurity and trust, and artificial intelligence were named as three pillars of Pakistan’s digital transformation; how they fit together, she said, would shape long-term socioeconomic development. She also referred to a major spectrum auction earlier this year as part of ongoing efforts to improve connectivity.
Progress, she insisted, should be judged by livelihoods, not only by growth or the speed of innovation. “Technology is only a means to an end. And the end is every single citizen’s livelihood in the country,” she said. Digital change, she added, must open opportunities for young people across Pakistan rather than concentrating gains in a few sectors or regions. She congratulated SDPI and its Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri for bringing stakeholders together on sustainable development.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wazir Shaza Fatima ne kaha ke AI se Pakistan mein ameer-ghareeb aur skill wala-be-skill ka farq barh sakta hai. Unhon ne kaha ke sirf bahar ki apps istemal karna kaafi nahi; Pakistan ko khud AI banana seekhna chahiye. Naukriyan bilkul khatm nahi hongi, lekin AI jaanne walon aur na jaanne walon ke darmiyan fasla barhega. Bacchon ke liye Urdu aur maqami zubanon ka data banana zaroori hai taake hamari culture AI mein peeche na reh jaye.
