Pakistan should embrace AI as opportunity to advance IT exports, economy: Speakers

ISLAMABAD, : The Speakers at an international conference on artificial intelligence on Saturday said the country should embrace the revolution of artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity to advance its information technology (IT) exports and economy by exploring billions of dollars worth of global market.

The speakers hailing from diverse backgrounds were addressing the two-day 1st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Society (December 30th and 31st) commenced here at the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) being organised by Global Center for Legal Thoughts (GCLT) in collaboration with Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration, PAL, IQRA, SIP, Al-Karam International Institute, Bahria University, and National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST).

The conference convened minds and ideas, engaging into a multifaceted relationship between artificial intelligence and society. The moot served as a platform for in-depth discussions on cutting-edge advancements, ethical considerations, and the broader societal implications of AI.

Former Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan, Justice Dr Syed Mohammad Anwar said the AI revolution had two sides of its rise as one was benign and the other hostile. Taking the second part first, he said, “Our ideologies are under the onslaught of social engineering being carried out under the garb of AI-based social networking sites. Our thinking is being changed deliberately which is reflected in many decisions of the key public, private, social, and civil entities.”

He underlined that the AI was the technology of the real world and it was not a bad thing, adding collection of information was the primary aspect of artificial intelligence. However, there was an urgent need to place protection guards against social engineering as our basic norms and ethics were being tainted through maligning and misleading content.

“The source of information needs to be verified while viewing AI-based content. Moreover, there is a need to develop a filter in mind to scrutinize every information.”

Religiously, he said the AI and IT had positive aspects as the books that were not available were now easily available on religion and many other aspects, adding, “It has developed a global jurisprudence among the Muslim scholars, hence the differences and gaps between all sects of the religion of Islam have vanished and developed consensus.”

“Ulema (Muslim scholars) have greatly benefitted through AI and IT for Qirat (recitation) and tajweed, learning and teaching of Holy Quran,” he noted. The entire nation, he said needed to work on IT as the country had not completely ventured into the domain of this vast subject.

He demanded the GCLT that the discourse should not be limited to this conference but rather be made a permanent forum

to study the negative impacts of AI on our society and to benefit from its positive aspects.

NUST, Chairman, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), Dr Yasir Ayaz said AI is the main technology spearheading technology advancement for the past one and a half decades in the world. He added that many technology-based industries were focussing on AI as it was embedded in every technology solution like social media, apps, networking tools banking tools, etc.

He highlighted the achievements of the NCAI and its students who grabbed global acclaim and attention through their novel innovations and most modern AI solutions through their indigenous efforts. “There is no doubt that AI is the only technology driving economic development as the current industrial era is the era of human and robot society,” he added.

Dr Ayaz said AI investment and development can help the country generate billions of dollars in revenue, adding, “We can get a new share from this new technology unfolding in the world. Many Pakistan foreign entrepreneurs and international companies are opening their businesses related to AI in the country as it has 16,000 IT professionals and over 20,000 new graduates which is the potential if trained and equipped well can help tap unexplored foreign revenue.”

He mentioned that the NCAI developed the Lahore Safe City AI-based security solution for Rs20 million which was proposed for Rs20 billion, but the NCAI developed it with locally-made solutions.

Dr Ayaz proposed that the African countries were looking for cheaper solutions like ours which can help us promote our AI exports in that region and emerge as a new partner in this domain as Chinese products were getting expensive after the US or European tools.

Prof Dr Habib-ur-Rehman Asif, Bahria University extended his gratitude to the GCLT for its initiative and termed the conference a remarkable step.

“There is ample proof of innovation and learning of advanced knowledge in Quran and Hadith, whereas the nation had to realise its role in seeking advanced knowledge,” he said. He commended the NCAI efforts as remarkable and called it a ray of hope.

Secretary, of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Dr Hafiz Ikran ul Haq also addressed the conference and shed light on the religious aspect of advanced learning and highlighted the need to explore AI as a weapon of modern advancement in the present-day domain.