'AI must not deepen inequality'

IT minister cites a $1b AI commitment as Global South states remain outside governance

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan has urged international partnerships to ensure access to artificial intelligence does not become a source of global inequality, with Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja telling an international gathering that the benefits of technological progress must be shared with the Global South.

Addressing Margalla Dialogue 2026, on technology and the transformation of state and society, she said most countries in the Global South had remained outside major AI governance initiatives, with a limited number of developed countries shaping the frameworks, and called for inclusive cooperation, open-source models and equitable access to AI infrastructure. She said AI was expected to become a $4.8 trillion economic sector by 2033 and to affect about 40% of global employment, and that the challenge was not simply fewer jobs but a growing gap between available skills and the changing requirements of the market.

For Pakistan, where two-thirds of the population is young, protecting national identity, languages and culture in the digital age mattered alongside economic and national security, she said.

The government had committed $1 billion to AI, announced during AI Week, across infrastructure, skills, innovation and connectivity. She said a multi-layered stack was being developed to give government, industry and innovators sovereign computing capacity, alongside a planned 8.5-megawatt Sky 47 data centre and investments being explored by the Porton Group and Sapphire Group.

On skills, she said one million young people would be trained in AI and at least 10,000 AI doctorates produced over five years, with a Fund of Funds supported by the World Bank and other partners to widen capital access for startups.

She said internet speeds had risen 60% in two and a half years and fibre-to-the-home house passes from fewer than three million to more than six million, while spectrum capacity expanded from 274MHz to over 750MHz, including 180MHz allocated, and 5G was introduced.

The Digital Nation Pakistan Act had established the Pakistan Digital Authority, which was preparing a National Digital Master Plan with sectoral plans, she said, and a National Data Governance Policy was being developed alongside a pilot National Data Exchange Layer.

More than two million people had obtained verifiable digital credentials through the National Database and Registration Authority, and the RAAST payment system was being developed with the State Bank of Pakistan, she said.

She said Pakistan ranked among the top 40 in the cybersecurity index, and that the May conflict with the neighbouring country had included a significant cyber dimension alongside conventional warfare.