Pakistan’s National AI Policy 2025 was hailed as a turning point when the Federal Cabinet unanimously approved it on July 30, 2025. The goals were bold: train one million AI professionals by 2030, open Centres of Excellence in seven major cities, and position Pakistan as South Asia’s leading AI hub within a decade. Nearly a year on, those goals remain firmly on paper. The governing body meant to drive all of this has not even been formed yet.
What the National AI Policy 2025 Actually Promises
The Federal Cabinet officially approved the AI Policy 2025 as a landmark national roadmap to transform Pakistan into a knowledge-based economy powered by ethical, inclusive, and innovative AI adoption. The policy rests on six strategic pillars covering everything from AI infrastructure to international partnerships.
The targets are specific and ambitious. The policy’s first pillar focuses on establishing a National AI Innovation Fund (NAIF), Centres of Excellence in AI across seven major cities, and venture and innovation funds to support R&D and commercialisation. The second pillar targets training 200,000 individuals annually, awarding 3,000 scholarships, and offering 20,000 paid internships while promoting AI literacy across all social segments.
The AI policy outlined training a million AI professionals by 2030, establishing an AI Innovation Fund and AI Venture Fund to boost private sector involvement, and creating 50,000 AI-driven civic projects and 1,000 local AI products in the next five years. On paper, it is one of the most detailed AI roadmaps in South Asia.
Why the National AI Policy 2025 Has Stalled
The hard reality is that the machinery needed to run this policy does not yet exist. The implementation of Pakistan’s National AI Policy has stalled more than six months after its approval due to a government decision to amend the composition of the AI Council and a lack of response from provincial governments.
The AI Council is the central body that was supposed to steer everything. The government decided to delay the establishment of the proposed AI Council because the incumbent structure is considered ‘too bureaucratic’. The AI Council serves as an apex body responsible for providing strategic direction and overseeing the policy implementation process.
The problem is not just bureaucratic design. A senior official at the IT ministry noted that the current composition of the council has a ‘limited presence of AI experts based both in the country and abroad’, and therefore an amendment was considered essential. That amendment, however, has dragged on for months with no resolution in sight.
Provincial buy-in is the other missing piece. Although the federal cabinet approved the National AI Policy in July 2025, the federal government asked the provinces for input on the policy’s implementation. However, no formal response has so far been received, stalling consultations required for finalising a nationwide framework.
This matters because key sectors like education and healthcare fall under provincial control, making their involvement essential. Without the provinces on board, AI cannot be integrated into schools, hospitals, or local government services, which are exactly the sectors the policy targets.
Only One Pillar Is Moving
The only pillar of the National AI Policy currently being implemented is creating ‘Awareness and Readiness’. Officials claimed the Indus AI Week, scheduled in Islamabad, was the first step in this regard. Five of the six pillars, including AI infrastructure, research, and international partnerships, have seen almost no visible movement.
While the policy sets ambitious 2030 targets, most projects in infrastructure and international cooperation remain at an early stage. Holding an awareness week is a start, but it is a long way from building compute infrastructure and training 200,000 people a year.
How Pakistan Compares to Regional Peers
The delay is costly because competitors are not standing still. Vietnam enacted its Law on Artificial Intelligence in December 2025, effective from March 1, 2026. The legislation is among the most comprehensive dedicated AI laws anywhere in the world, covering risk-based classification, transparency requirements, AI incident management, and state oversight. Vietnam moved from policy draft to binding law in the time Pakistan has spent debating who should sit on its AI Council.
India’s AI market reached USD 22.85 billion in 2025, making it the second-largest in Asia-Pacific behind China. India’s IndiaAI Mission pairs a large public-private compute infrastructure with a national dataset platform and a dedicated skills pipeline. The gap between India’s execution and Pakistan’s stalled framework is widening every quarter.
For Pakistani tech professionals, freelancers, developers, startup founders, the real cost of delay is opportunity lost. Every month without a functioning AI Council means no AI Innovation Fund disbursements, no Centres of Excellence opening, and no scholarship programme running. You can read more about how Pakistan’s broader tech sector is working to close such gaps at how Pakistani tech companies performed at GITEX Europe 2026.
What Needs to Happen Next
Experts studying the policy’s feasibility have pointed out that the problems go beyond the AI Council dispute. Without addressing foundational gaps including energy, connectivity, data digitisation, talent retention, market creation, and sector specificity, the ambitious targets risk becoming aspirational rhetoric.
A revised implementation plan that tightly aligns infrastructure, legal frameworks, economic incentives, and market demand can help Pakistan transform policy into practical impact. That means the federal government needs to urgently finalise the amended AI Council composition, publish it formally, and then push provinces hard for a response with a clear deadline.
The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority are key institutions that need to coordinate closely for the digital infrastructure side of the policy to move forward. Without that coordination happening at pace, Pakistan’s very detailed and well-intentioned National AI Policy 2025 risks becoming another document that promised transformation but delivered delay.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the National AI Policy 2025 approved?
On July 30, 2025, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the federal cabinet approved the National AI Policy 2025. It was passed unanimously and received widespread praise at the time of approval.
Why is the National AI Policy 2025 implementation stalled?
Two main reasons. First, the government decided the originally proposed AI Council was too bureaucratic and lacked sufficient AI experts, so it needs to be restructured before it can be formally set up. Second, provincial governments have not responded to federal requests for input, and since education and healthcare are provincial subjects, their silence blocks progress on the most important sectors.
What are the key targets of the policy?
The policy’s headline target is to train one million AI professionals by 2030. It also envisions a National AI Fund (NAIF), a geographically distributed network of Centres of Excellence in AI, nationwide awareness by 2026, and approximately 10,000 trainers by 2027.
How does Pakistan compare to Vietnam and India on AI?
Vietnam passed a full binding AI law in December 2025 that came into force in March 2026, covering risk classification and mandatory registration of AI systems. India’s AI market already stands at over USD 22 billion. Pakistan, by contrast, has not yet formally constituted its AI Council or disbursed any funds from its proposed National AI Fund, putting it behind both countries in practical AI governance and investment.
