Recently, two global headlines captured the world, revealing a truly remarkable transformation unfolding before our eyes. Amazon announced plans to lay off over 30,000 employees, marking the largest corporate downsizing in its history, which the company attributes to a reorientation toward automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
At the same time, NVIDIA – the chipmaker that designs the processors powering almost every AI model today – surpassed a staggering $4 trillion market capitalisation, becoming the most valuable company in human history, overtaking Microsoft Corporation (and also Apple Inc) to become the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world.
These two events symbolise the dawn of a new industrial revolution – one not driven by steam, electricity or the internet, but by the exponential power of algorithms that can think, learn, and create. The AI Revolution is now reshaping our economies, industries, and societies faster than any transformation in recorded history. For countries like Pakistan, this revolution presents both a historic opportunity and a grave warning: act swiftly and strategically or risk being left behind in a world re-engineered by machines that learn.
Artificial intelligence has already become the defining driver of global competitiveness. Countries that control the hardware, data, and algorithms of AI now hold unprecedented geopolitical and economic power. NVIDIA’s four-trillion-dollar ascent illustrates how value creation has shifted from physical goods to intelligent computation. The world’s wealth is migrating toward nations that can harness and export intelligence – embodied in chips, data models and autonomous systems – rather than mere materials or low-cost labour.
For Pakistan, where millions of young people enter the workforce each year, this reality is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge lies in avoiding mass unemployment or underemployment caused by obsolete skills. The opportunity, however, is enormous: with its youthful demographics and emerging technology sector, Pakistan can become a global hub for AI-driven innovation and services – if it mobilises quickly and strategically.
The transformation must begin in the classroom. Around the world, AI is revolutionising education by enabling personalised and adaptive learning systems that tailor instruction to each student’s needs. In countries like the US and China, AI tutors and automated grading systems are now commonplace. These tools free teachers from repetitive tasks and allow them to focus on mentorship and creativity – skills that machines cannot replace.
For Pakistan, where educational inequality remains a persistent barrier to development, AI offers a unique chance to bridge the divide between urban and rural students. Intelligent learning platforms, when coupled with affordable digital devices and internet connectivity, could deliver high-quality, individualised education to millions of students who currently lack access to competent teachers.
However, this transformation cannot occur spontaneously. It requires deliberate policy action. Pakistan must integrate AI literacy and computational thinking into school curricula, train teachers in digital pedagogy and establish a national education data infrastructure. Without this foundation, the next generation will lack the cognitive tools to compete in the AI economy.
Few areas reveal AI’s transformative power more vividly than healthcare. Across the world, AI systems are now diagnosing cancers from radiological images, predicting disease outbreaks and designing drugs with unprecedented speed. Algorithms can analyse millions of compounds in days, something that once took teams of chemists years of laboratory work.
For Pakistan, whose health system struggles with underfunded hospitals, uneven access, and limited human resources, AI represents a chance to leapfrog decades of infrastructural deficiency. Mobile-based diagnostic tools powered by AI could assist rural doctors in identifying tuberculosis, malaria or diabetes using simple smartphone images. Predictive analytics could optimise hospital logistics and drug inventories, reducing wastage and improving patient outcomes.
The private sector is undergoing perhaps the fastest transformation of all. Businesses are now restructuring around data. AI has become the central nervous system of corporations – driving decision-making, marketing, customer engagement, supply chains and product design. The integration of machine learning into manufacturing can dramatically reduce waste, energy use and human error, increasing competitiveness in international markets.
To achieve this, Pakistan needs an enabling environment: tax incentives for AI startups, grants for applied AI research and partnerships between academia and industry. Government agencies such as the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Ministry of IT should jointly establish National Centres of AI Innovation, focused on high-impact domains: healthcare, agriculture, energy and finance.
Agriculture remains Pakistan’s largest source of employment and a cornerstone of national food security. Yet, productivity is often hampered by inefficient practices, water scarcity, and lack of access to timely information. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to revolutionise this sector from the ground up.
To seize the opportunities of the AI revolution, Pakistan must treat it not as a technological fad but as a national survival priority. The steps are clear, though they require urgency and coordination.
First, Pakistan needs a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, aligned with its Vision 2050 and Knowledge-Economy agenda. Second, a massive investment in human capital is essential. Curriculum at every level – from schools to universities – must integrate data literacy, computational thinking and AI ethics. Third, Pakistan must develop its digital infrastructure: high-speed connectivity, data centres, cloud computing, and access to GPUs for AI research. Fourth, the government must promote AI entrepreneurship through fiscal incentives, startup accelerators and venture-capital facilitation. A special AI Innovation Fund could co-invest with private firms in high-impact projects – precision medicine, crop analytics and renewable-energy optimisation.
My efforts to address this challenge have resulted in the establishment of the Pak-Austrian Fachhochschule – a university of applied engineering and technology – in Haripur, Hazara, which has an excellent centre emerging in the field of artificial intelligence. A second such centre is being established in the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi by us. A third such project under my supervision is a new university of applied engineering and emerging technologies in Samrial, near Sialkot, spearheaded with a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence.
A huge Rs40 billion project to set up a Network of top-class centres of excellence in Artificial Intelligence across Pakistan was submitted by the Knowledge Economy Task Force, headed by me, to the Ministry of Information Technology. Its feasibility has been completed by the ministry and it awaits ECNEC approval.
For Pakistan, the lesson is unmistakable: delay is defeat. The AI revolution will not wait for any nation to catch up. The window for entry is narrow but open. By investing in quality education, research, digital infrastructure and innovation, Pakistan can transform this moment of upheaval into an opportunity for national renewal.
The writer is a former federal minister, Unesco sciencelaureate and founding chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). He can be reached at: ibne_sina@hotmail.com
