Call for Rapid Adoption of AI, Technologies to Empower Youth

APP
Islamabad: Member of the National Assembly Shaza Fatima Khawaja has stressed the need for adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning by modernizing our education system and curricula to prepare the youth for skilled jobs if we really want to empower them and bring them on a par with the rest of the world.
She was speaking at a seminar titled. The Challenges and Opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybersecurity in Pakistan, organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute here.
The legislator said that the world is rapidly adopting AI, but Pakistan lags far behind the majority of nations. Leveraging AI technologies can help establish an effective governance system, transparency, and safe city traffic monitoring.
Systems are the big examples in this regard, she remarked.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI, said: We are living in the age of unparalleled information and have become knowledge managers with limitless data, which is easily accessible. However, with this opportunity, he added, we must take on the responsibility for the ethical use of information.
Dr Nasir Mahood, Vice-Chancellor, AIOU, stressed the need for corresponding our response speed to the speed of AI transformation and increasing investment in the AI and ICT sectors to promote indigenization to match the pace of the rest of the world. He further said that improving the AI ecosystem in Pakistan will also help retain indigenous talent and boost economic development.
Brig. Muhammad Yasin (retired), Senior Advisor Emeritus, SDPI, said that AI is modernizing industries—agriculture, manufacturing, etc.—to boost productivity.
While AI can transform the cybersecurity landscape, its rapid adoption often leaves critical protection gaps, causing breaches into critical government and private data. Therefore, it is crucial to modernize the cybersecurity infrastructure to meet these emerging challenges. Referring to research reports in 2023, he said that 25% of Pakistani internet users faced online threats, which demands that an AI-based cybersecurity infrastructure be set up for users and data protection sooner rather than later.
Dr Mukarram Khan, Director-General, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said that PTA is using big data and trend analysis to track cybercriminals and improve telecommunication services and has introduced a Cybersecurity Strategy 2023–28 to meet emerging cybersecurity challenges.
Mudassir Hussain, Vice President, Jazz, said that cybersecurity regulations must take a whole-of-tech approach. He called for avoiding over-regulations for sustainability and creating demand for AI use in public procurement systems and the private sector.
Muhammad Aslam Hayat, Senior Policy Fellow at LIRNEAsia, said that leveraging AI in cybersecurity can enable much faster response, threat detection, and prevention for better cybersecurity. He stressed that cybersecurity regulatory frameworks must be developed to ensure interpretability, scalability, and innovation.
Dr Yasir Ayaz, Chairperson of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence at NUST, highlighted that revenues from the AI software market are expected to reach $126 billion by 2025, with 37 percent of organizations having already implemented AI in some form, and AI use in enterprises has grown by 270 percent in the past four years. According to Forbes, he said, AI is expected to create 133 million new jobs by 2030 while displacing around 400 million workers from 2016 to 2030. AI will boost employment more than current projections; however, it calls for embracing the emerging technology and upskilling the workforce, he maintained.
Dr Mehreen Afzal, Executive Director, N-CERT, said that policymakers must carefully assess how to regulate the use of AI technologies, balancing the need to keep powerful weapons out of the hands of malicious actors without stifling innovation.
Dr Faisal Nawaz, Deputy Director-General, Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Defense, stressed the need for collaboration and linkages with countries leading the AI transformation, data sharing mechanisms, and long-term national policies and plans to effectively embrace and utilize AI.
Mr Zakir Syed, Director, Internet Governance, Ministry of Information Technology, remarked that the global AI market is expected to reach the potential of $1 trillion by 2030. By channelizing regulatory infrastructure and skill development for labor through government-industry and academia linkages, a highly skilled AI-trained workforce can be developed in the next five years, he added.
Dr Hajra Ahmed, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at AIOU, said Pakistan must equip its students to adapt to these emerging trends by updating our curricula through well-thought-out policy reforms.
Dr Kashif Naseer, Associate Professor, University of Limerick, Ireland, highlighted that the FIA Cyber Crime Wing (FIA-CCW) registered 84,764 cybercrime complaints in 2020, with financial fraud through social media being the most common complaint. The emerging cybercrimes can be addressed through AI threat detection and prevention, automating incident response, and predicting future cyberattacks through trend and data analytics, he added.