ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has opposed the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), saying that it would be too early to come up with a regulator for a technology that is emerging since the ecosystem is yet to be developed.
Official documents revealed that Senate Secretariat has shared a bill (to be introduced in the Senate) for comments of the Ministry of IT and Telecom.
Titled as “Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2024”, the bill is aimed at making provisions for the regulation of AI and related matters in Pakistan.
The ministry stated that Al has enormous potential for growth and development but has certain associated risks too. A number of countries are working on policies/ strategies/ regulations to benefit from the Al opportunity and to help avoid to potential risks associated with it.
The MoITT also initiated the work on draft Al policy to grasp the full potential of this emerging technology and to prepare for the associated challenges.
Globally, there are more countries with national level Al policy/ strategy (more than 50), rather than with Al legislation/ regulations (less than 10). This is because, AI is emerging at a fast pace with huge potential and therefore, countries are more focused towards Al ecosystem building as part of the national strategy/ policy than to regulate it. And once, the ecosystem is built, there would be a need such systems. In the case of Pakistan, there is a need for certain aspects that are to be addressed first as these are instrumental for the development of Al ecosystem such as data governance, data availability, data protection, etc before regulating AI.
The ministry said that the subject of Al at national level is being led by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (MoPDSI) and Minister of State for IT and Telecom.
The MoPDSI has constituted an inclusive taskforce on Al with members from public sectors entities, industry and academia working on the National Al Plan — that will help build initiatives for Al ecosystem across the country.
Similarly, MoITT also constituted an Inclusive Al Committee with members from public sector entities, academia and industry to finalise the National Al Policy for enhancing AI ecosystem in the country. This policy/strategy will provide an overarching direction for AI ecosystem building across the country in line with the National AAI Plan (which MoPDSI is working on).
To make the process more inclusive at broader national level, there were special directions of both the ministers to take the provinces along in the process; hence, feedback comments of the provinces were solicited accordingly.
There is understanding at the Taskforce, the Policy Committee and other stakeholders in the country that Pakistan should first build an enabling environment for AI ecosystem and then AI regulations may be introduced.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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