Pakistan AI readiness is in serious trouble, according to a new report published in Dawn on July 13, 2026. The country’s statistical systems were built for a pre-digital era, its government agencies hold data in disconnected silos, and most businesses have no formal AI plan at all. ChatGPT use is growing fast among young Pakistanis and office workers, but enthusiasm at the grassroots level is not translating into the kind of structured, data-driven adoption that produces real economic growth.
What the Dawn Report Actually Found
A strange mix of scepticism and euphoria surrounds AI in Pakistan. Educated youth and a large share of service-sector employees are familiar with, and increasingly use, ChatGPT and other AI tools, helped along by widespread smartphone and internet access. At the same time, many workers fear AI will further erode already scarce job opportunities, while businesses are eagerly exploring cost-effective AI applications to cut wage bills and improve productivity.
The problem, the report makes clear, is that Pakistan does not even know the scale of what it is dealing with. The Chief Statistician at the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) confirmed that the agency does not collect data on AI adoption in either the public or private sector. The Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey tracks ICT use but contains no question on AI. As a result, Pakistan lacks systematically compiled data on AI adoption across the economy.
This is a significant blind spot. You cannot fix a problem you cannot measure.
Broken Data Is the Core Problem for Pakistan AI Readiness
Pakistan’s statistical systems were designed for a pre-digital economy, long before personal computers, the internet, and AI. The PBS labour survey tracks employment in broad sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and construction, but not AI adoption across industries and businesses.
Pakistan’s labour surveys and official databases continue to follow frameworks developed before the digital economy, with little tracking of AI adoption across industries or occupations that could face automation. This means policymakers have no reliable map of where AI is already displacing workers, or where it could create new ones.
The problem goes deeper than just the PBS. Administrative data across government agencies such as NADRA and the FBR remains non-digitised, fragmented, and held in silos, making it difficult to integrate and access. Provisions for cross-agency data-sharing protocols are limited.
Akif Saeed, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), said: ‘We still rely on photocopies and attested documents, so true digitisation remains incomplete. AI is being used only in limited pockets. At the company level, adoption varies widely, and the SECP does not maintain comprehensive data on AI usage.’
Private Sector AI Adoption Is Uneven
Private-sector experts cited in the report said AI adoption remains uneven across industries. While banks and a few large companies are investing in AI applications and hiring specialised talent, most businesses have yet to formulate formal AI strategies.
This matters enormously for Pakistan’s economic future. According to Gartner, global AI spending is expected to reach nearly $2.5 trillion in 2026 and exceed $3.3 trillion by 2027, with significant investment going into infrastructure such as computing systems and data centres. This reflects an important reality: future AI capability depends not only on visible applications but on the systems built beneath them. Pakistan is largely absent from that investment wave.
As of 2024, Pakistan ranked 97 out of 133 countries on overall digital infrastructure, skills, and usage, and 149 out of 197 on openness of government data, reflecting limited access to official datasets for public use. The Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index further ranked Pakistan eighth of 17 countries across South and Central Asia, placing it below India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The index scores countries across government vision, digital capacity, and data infrastructure.
For a country where Pakistani freelancers recently crossed $1 billion in earnings and the IT sector is growing fast, this gap is not just a policy concern. It is a direct threat to income and jobs.
Internet Access Still Leaves Half the Country Behind
As of 2025, 116 million Pakistanis had access to the internet, an internet penetration rate of 45.7%, implying that over half the population remains offline. AI tools require reliable internet. A country where the majority of people cannot get online is a country where AI benefits stay concentrated in a few urban pockets.
The challenge of accessing high-speed internet still looms large, while two-thirds of Pakistan’s population lacks smartphones. This physical access gap runs underneath every other problem. Without solving it, no AI policy will reach the people who need it most.
Pakistan Has a Policy, But Gaps Remain Wide
Pakistan’s National AI Policy 2025 was approved unanimously by the federal cabinet in July 2025 under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, aiming to create a complete AI ecosystem focused on training, innovation, infrastructure, and ethical governance.
The policy has the potential to increase GDP growth from 7% to 15% by 2030, depending on the level of adaptation, and could revolutionise sectors such as agriculture, industry, and services, improving agriculture by $12 billion, industry by $5 billion, and services by $26 billion. Those are ambitious numbers. But as analysts point out, they depend entirely on fixing the foundations first.
One assessment described the policy as ambitious but lacking legal teeth and overly reliant on optimism. In effect, Pakistan’s framework gestures in the right direction but stops short of creating binding obligations.
Talent development must be connected with opportunity. Training people is essential, but skills alone cannot create an AI economy without access to data, infrastructure, and real-world deployment pathways.
There is also an external pressure Pakistan must navigate. As we covered earlier, US AI export controls have already cut off access to some frontier AI tools for Pakistani users, meaning the country faces barriers from both inside and outside at the same time.
What Needs to Change
Pakistan’s outdated statistical systems, poor-quality data, and low levels of digitisation could undermine AI-driven decision-making, as artificial intelligence relies heavily on accurate and comprehensive datasets.
Experts have pointed to a clear list of priorities. Pakistan needs to strengthen digital infrastructure, improve data governance, and promote AI literacy among policymakers and businesses to remain competitive as artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy.
Specifically, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and the PBS must urgently update their surveys to include questions about AI usage, automation, and skills. Without that, no one in government or business can make good decisions about where to invest or who to protect.
Some experts argue Pakistan must rapidly adopt AI to boost productivity, lower costs, and remain globally competitive, warning that delay will only widen the development gap. They caution, however, against blindly importing foreign models and stress the need for locally developed solutions tailored to Pakistan’s economic and social realities.
Nations that fail to prepare for the coming AI shift risk becoming passive consumers of intelligence rather than active builders of future capability. For Pakistan, that warning is not abstract. It is a live risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pakistan ready for the AI era?
No, not yet. A Dawn report published on July 13, 2026 found that Pakistan’s digital infrastructure is fragmented, its statistical systems do not track AI adoption, and most businesses have no formal AI strategy. The country ranks 8th out of 17 in South and Central Asia on government AI readiness.
Does the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics track AI use?
The PBS Chief Statistician confirmed that the agency does not collect data on AI adoption in either the public or private sector. The PLSM Survey tracks general ICT use but contains no question on AI.
Which Pakistani industries are using AI the most?
Private-sector experts said AI adoption remains uneven across industries. While banks and a few large companies are investing in AI applications and hiring specialised talent, most businesses have yet to formulate formal AI strategies.
What is Pakistan’s National AI Policy 2025?
The policy revolves around six main pillars: providing an AI innovation ecosystem, mass awareness and readiness, a secure AI ecosystem, the transformation and evolution of various sectors, establishing nationwide AI infrastructure, and promoting international collaboration in the field of AI. However, critics note it lacks binding legal mechanisms to force real change.
