Have you ever found yourself perplexed at the sight of government policy documents? Have you, like many in the country, found it difficult to parse through the complex legal and bureaucratic jargon such documents are written in?
There’s some good news for you.
‘AI for Good’, a trailblazing initiative by two Pakistani whizz-kids Nabhan Khan and Kenan Khan, is harnessing the power of interactive chatbots to empower citizens, enabling them to effortlessly navigate and understand complex policy documents. Named ‘National AI Policy GPT’, their latest venture developed in July this year is among the first efforts in Pakistan that utilizes artificial intelligence itself to help people make sense of the government's AI policy. Their intention is to foster a new level of civic engagement and inclusion so that everyone, the youth in particular, can find any piece of information they are looking for about the policy in order to make informed decisions about their lives and plan for future endeavors accordingly.
Around the world, AI is transforming the way we interact with policy documents, making them more accessible, engaging, and effective. The whizz-kid duo, who won global fame for creating the world's first experiential learning video game on COVID-19 in 2020, are synonymous with innovation and want us to use AI as an enabler to solve problems, develop solutions and better society rather than living in fear of the emerging technological gamechanger.
Examining their recent project, one can say that simplicity is the key to success in everything. They launched a simple and easy-to-use social impact project that can help anyone understand and utilize the National AI policy of Pakistan to their benefit. One can, in a manner of speaking, interact with the AI policy as if they were talking to the document itself!
When it comes to the average citizen, policy documents are usually shrouded in mystery, with limited awareness and accessibility.
Few people have the time or expertise to decipher the lengthy documents, and even fewer experts have had the time to discuss specific information with those seeking it interactively.
Of late, people have started making lengthy awareness videos on policies, which mostly leads to a situation akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.
This is because one has to watch the entire video to find out the small bit of information that is of one's interest. This lack of transparency and understanding has hindered the ability of citizens to benefit from policies and participate in the country’s policy making process.
As a result, fewer people make decisions about most people's lives and that too while sitting in isolation and not taking everyone on board! So empathy was a miss!
“With the advent of AI-powered interactive documents, this is all changing. This is why we’ve decided to make this AI GPT and help the people of Pakistan and around the world to understand the AI policy of Pakistan and be able to play their role in shaping the next AI policy,” said Nabhan Khan, the co-creator of National AI Policy GPT. “By leveraging AI itself, we have developed the National AI Policy GPT – a cutting-edge tool designed to provide interactive access to the National AI policy, in English as well as Urdu, for wider reach, better understanding, and to foster meaningful engagement among diverse stakeholders from various demographics, particularly the youth of Pakistan,” he explained.
“This initiative embodies our commitment to catalyzing a more inclusive, equitable, and technologically advanced Pakistan. We invite you to join us in this endeavor, sharing the National AI Policy GPT link with your network, and helping us drive collective action towards a brighter future for Pakistan's tech ecosystem and enhancing our image-building contribution towards Pakistan and especially the campaign TECH destiNATION PAKISTAN!” Nabhan added.
“Together, we can harness the transformative power of AI to drive social impact, economic growth, and human progress,” said Kenan Khan, the other half of the innovative duo. “As usual, we’ve made most of our projects available to the public without any monetisation or commercial aspect. This is why we’ve put this AI policy GPT on the Internet, so anyone can access it for free and gain benefit from it without any hassle or registration and we’ve also put it on Linkedin where so many distinguished professionals, movers and shakers, and notables from tech and media industry are appreciating it already and sharing it with their audience around the world,” he shared. “In short, as we've always said, we’ve played our part, so now it’s time for others to play their role and spread the word,” Kenan added.
The two innovators shared that when they were around two to three years old, their parents told them not to be afraid of computers and use them like a paintbrush. Since that time they have been exploring new ideas and emerging technologies and in most cases using out-of-the-box thinking, they said. According to them, AI is no different and they approach it like ‘taming a beast’, letting it work for the betterment of society and social good.
How it is beneficial
The benefits of the AI policy GPT are far-reaching, however here is the summary of the most important aspects it offers:
• Enhanced Accessibility: AI-powered interactive documents cater to a broader audience, including individuals with limited technical expertise.
• Deeper Engagement: Interactive documents encourage active participation, significantly enhancing user engagement and comprehension of policy documents.
• Accelerated Comprehension: AIdriven interactive facilitates rapid grasp of key points, slashing time spent reading lengthy documents by making them bite-sized.
• Personalized Insights: AI provides tailored summaries, recommendations, and insights based on user input and interests from the lengthy Policy document.
• Increased Transparency: Interactive documents simplify navigation, enabling users to effortlessly find relevant information and understand policy decisions quickly.
• Democratization of Knowledge: AI-powered interactive documents put the power of information in the hands of citizens, bridging the knowledge gap and fostering a more informed society.
• Time-Saving: Interactive documents save time for both citizens and experts, enabling more efficient and effective communication. • Scalability: AI-driven interactivity can handle multiple queries simultaneously, making it an ideal solution for large-scale policy engagement.
• Bilingual approach: The AI policy GPT offers a bilingual approach (available both in English and Urdu languages) so that the majority of Pakistanis can learn, understand, and be able to make informed decisions about their lives.
“As the 'AI for Good' movement continues to gain momentum around the world, its potential for driving positive social impact is vast. By putting the power of AI in the hands of citizens, we can create a more just, equitable, inclusive, and transparent society”, said Nabhan. “The future of policy engagement has never looked brighter and we must embrace using AI as an enabler in all important sectors such as healthcare, education, planning and policy-making, etc,” said Kenan.
As lifelong learners, Nabhan and Kenan equipped themselves with various skills and specializations from many top universities, including Ivy League institutions (such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and Yale, to name a few). The list is long, with almost 100 courses and certifications, etc. You can see them on Nabhan’s LinkedIn profile as both have similar skill sets and achievements mentioned on their LinkedIn (LinkedIn.com/in/NabhanIzzKhan). Both brothers have conducted design audits and branding for various companies and organizations worldwide, including some in Pakistan, such as Careem, the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), and the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) to name a few. Recently, they co-created a branding campaign for the Pakistan Government titled "Tech destiNATION Pakistan," for which they received appreciation letters from the then MD PSEB (Mr. Osman Nasir) and the prestigious Platinum award by the PSEB in 2021 (Reference appreciation letters can be seen on the Linkedin link above)
The brothers have co-conducted hundreds of workshops on various subjects, such as Design Thinking, STEM/STEAM, Animation, Game Development, etc. They also co-conducted (along with their Mother) the first ever MIT Scratch Day coding workshop in Pakistan (2009/2010) and in Malaysia (2013). They are certified enterprise level design thinking practitioners. They also support and volunteer for social impact projects, including SDGs, ESG, Wikipedia, AI for Good, Art for Good, Education for All, and Chess for Education. The whizz-kid duo enjoys painting, telling stories, playing snooker, chess, e-sports and lateral thinking games.
Role models and a ray of hope for millions of kids in Pakistan, Nabhan and Kenan have never been to any school, but nor are they homeschooled; they are self-taught and actively work towards imparting knowledge to less privileged kids and youth worldwide.
According to UNESCO, Pakistan has one of the highest numbers of out-of school children in the world, with over 30 million kids lacking access to education. And even those who do go to school are not learning as per the need and speed for today's world!
Ensuring access to the internet and skill development, especially in the IT and Tech sector, is crucial for the future development, economic growth, and social progress of Pakistan. Education and emerging technology skills, such as AI, can help break the cycle of poverty, promote gender equality, and empower individuals to reach their full potential. This is the need of the house and a must for the youth of Pakistan!
Nabhan and Kenan Khan’s parents themselves are high achievers (award winning British Chevening Scholar and Commonwealth Scholar) who instead of following the path less traveled, built a new path for others to follow! And they have created pathways for so many kids around the world for self-taught learning in STEM/STEAM and innovation domains! It is rare to find educated parents who opted not to send their kids to school or put them in homeschooling environments and instead built a robust model for self taught learning around the world!
When their parents were asked, “It must be a tough journey?” They replied “A lot of Parents, Professionals, and Pedagogy experts ask us this question with the expression that it seems impossible! We reply that we did nothing special because we believe that all parents can do it too easily, it only requires you to love, trust, and give your kids confidence so that they can make their own choices, make well informed decisions, and take ownership. It is nothing but natural because almost all creatures do that with their offspring, except humans (who outsource their offspring to others hoping that others will train them well) despite living in a conceptual age, still think that accumulating knowledge (getting grades) alone is necessary instead of applying it as per the norms of the conceptual age we live in today. The future illiterate will not be the ones who did not learn how to read or write but the ones who did not learn “How to learn!”
We often draw inspiration from Western examples, such as Elon Musk not sending his children to school and instead building a lab at home for them to learn through play. However, we rarely appreciate our people and share their success stories as great examples to follow. Nabhan and Kenan's life journey and self-taught learning using toys, play, LEGO, storytelling, computers, robotics, and the internet is a living example of a can-do attitude with a go-getter spirit. A lot of parents, children, and youth can draw inspiration from their journey!
While we wait in the slow lane of traditional education systems, we can fast-track our kids' learning process by drawing inspiration from people like Nabhan and Kenan to help the children and youth in Pakistan acquire and apply the latest skills to realize their potential to the fullest!
AI for all, AI for good
“Being Futurists, we believe that the world is undergoing a significant transformation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this change. Rather than viewing AI as a replacement or a threat, we should embrace it as an enabler that can help us tackle complex problems and improve our lives. Using AI, anyone with a problem-solving mindset (even without an IT or Tech background), can come up with solutions to help benefit society and the world! By harnessing the power of AI, we can: Automate routine tasks, freeing up time for creative and strategic thinking, analyze vast amounts of data to gain insights and make informed decisions, develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges, such as climate change, healthcare, and education and enhance productivity, efficiency, and accuracy in various industries to name a few! By embracing AI as an enabler, we can unlock its full potential and create a brighter future for all, especially the youth of Pakistan. We all should work together to harness the power of AI and drive positive change in the world", said the young designer-developer brother duo!
Some of you may have read and seen their interview in global and local news and media, featuring them during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020, covering their resilient approach and “driven during disaster” mindset, using which they shared an innovative digital solution (the world's first experiential learning video game) to help everyone learn with fun, how to go about the new normal and carry on with their lives!
By creating Pakistan’s National AI Policy GPT, once again they have played their part for social good and now it’s time for you to play yours! The AI Policy GPT can be easily accessed using the following URL: NationalAIpolicy.blogspot.com