Pakistan’s AI potential stuck in third gear

KARACHI: The Agence Francaise De Development (AFD) has ranked Pakistan 98th out of 194 countries on its Artificial Intelligence Investment Potential Index (AIIPI) 2025, highlighting deficiencies in human capital and infrastructure as among the main factors holding the nation back.

Published in February, the AIIPI 2025 takes into account economic environment, governance, digital and physical infrastructure, data governance and security and statistical performance, to assign each country a score that indicates their AI investment potential. It also places them into distinct investment potential stages that range from one to four, with ‘Stage 4’ representing the highest level of investment potential.

Pakistan received a score of 51.11, slightly below the global average of 52.32, putting the country in ‘Stage 3’. According to the AIIPI, countries in Stages 2 and 3 face considerable challenges, necessitating targeted policy interventions to address deficiencies in infrastructure and to enhance human capital development.

While most of the South Asian countries are in the same stage as Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all received higher scores. India led the region with a score of 73.64, ranking 30th in the world. Pakistan’s performance showcases moderate advancements in infrastructure and human capital readiness, as per the AIIPI. The need for better infrastructure and human capital is also highlighted by local experts when looking at Pakistan’s AI landscape.

According to Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, who heads the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and is a member of the advisory board of the Asian Development Bank Institute, “While Pakistan boasts a young, tech-savvy population that could drive AI innovation, there remains a significant skills gap. The workforce largely lacks the specialised training needed to compete globally in AI and data science”. Suleri also argues that “the absence of proper infrastructure to capture, store, and process data means that AI applications cannot reach their full potential in the Pakistani context”.

Others, such as Chairman of the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP) Shahzad Arshad, also point to a lack of funding as a significant drawback.

“Our lag stems from connectivity gaps and funding, yet with strategic focus, Pakistan’s AI landscape can rival emerging economies in a decade,” Arshad asserts. He also claims that “Emulating Singapore’s model of robust STEM education

can upskill [Pakistan’s] youthful workforce, while incentives akin to India’s IT-friendly policies could attract FDI”.

CEO of research firm Hina Shahrukh Group LTD Sharukh Malik also points to a lack of skills in Pakistan which holds the country back in terms of AI optimisation and institutional factors like gaps between industry and academia and a lack of quality research in both. In general, he says that there is more work and investment in terms of AI implementation, using established global models like ChatGPT or DeepSeek to make AI products, than there is in the actual development of the technology itself.

Beyond the country-specific point of view, the AIIPI also calls for global efforts to address the disparities in AI to ensure that its benefits are accessible to all. It argues that, without such efforts, low-income nations risk deeper marginalisation in the rapidly evolving global AI economy.