Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Scope in Pakistan

For a while now, the term artificial intelligence (AI) has been in vogue. It’s a word that’s frequently used to describe tools, computer-controlled robots, and software programmes that simulate human and animal intelligence by learning, planning, reasoning, and interacting. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Scope in Pakistan will be dicussed in this article.

The ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that typically require human intelligence and judgement is known as artificial intelligence (AI). Some applications of AI include Siri and Google Translate. They use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies based on how human neural networks learn.

Development of Artificial Intelligence:

The majority of the fundamental Artificial Intelligence (AI) ideas have been around for many years. John McCarthy, a computer scientist at Stanford, first used the word “AI” in 1956.

The Internet of Things (IoT) devices’ massive training data supply, the availability of compute capacity, and the decline in cloud storage and computing costs have all contributed to the remarkable boom in AI technology development over the past ten years.

Many nations have created specialised AI frameworks and regulations to support educational initiatives and research and development (R&D) facilities to improve economic development and technical innovation.

AI Usage In The World:

The market for Artificial Intelligence software is expanding quickly worldwide. According to Statista, it is anticipated to grow to $126 billion by 2025. It is seen as the upcoming major disruptor and a driver of economic progress. As a result, most sectors, enterprises, and lifestyles are already being transformed by AI technologies.

Robots help farmers protect their crops from weeds by monitoring and spraying weedicide on plants, AI models can paint and generate images from text, and AI systems are already assisting doctors in the early detection of diseases like cancer and cardiovascular and neurological disorders. We have sophisticated smart assistants like Siri on our phones. Self-driving cars are closer to becoming a part of our daily lives.

Revolution of Artificial Intelligence:

AI has significantly impacted how we make logical and business decisions, strengthened our workforces, and revolutionised our lives. AI has even altered how war will be fought in the future. The industry has been shook by artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence (AI) was employed by Hollywood to produce lifelike effects.

The third-largest economy in the world, Japan, has been integrating robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to address societal issues and promote economic growth. Humanoid robots have been coexisting with workers in Japanese factories. Artificial intelligence also has an impact on the foundation and benchmark of rapid economic expansion through recommendations for international trade. AI has also given farmers rational ways to safeguard their crops from weeds.

Artificial Intelligence in Pakistan:

While making significant advancements in specific fields like artificial intelligence and machine learning, Pakistan’s progress has been a little slower, there have nevertheless been some noteworthy successes.

Pakistan has to follow suit and make investments in initiatives to foster young people’s excitement for AI and contemporary technologies. This entails funding educational initiatives, research facilities, and training courses for industrial preparation.

In this area, Pakistan has a lot of potential because AI can be used to solve regional problems in business, government, agriculture, and the environment as well as to create tech unicorns and businesses that specialise in exporting high-tech/AI software.

Presence of Artificial Intelligence in Pakistan:

A few research facilities, businesses, and startups have already made advancements in the field of artificial intelligence and contributed to the global tech sector. For instance, a team of professors from the Information Technology University (ITU) in Lahore is working to find solutions to important issues and disseminating their findings at prestigious AI conferences.

The Koshish Foundation Research Lab has emerged as a rising star in recent years. It examines every facet of AI research and applies it. One of its main objectives is to employ AI and machine learning to raise the bar and transform Pakistan’s agricultural industry.

The Pakistani government launched the National Centre of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) in 2018 as a technology endeavour. It wants to establish itself as a premier centre for scientific research, innovation, knowledge transfer to the local economy, and training in the field of artificial intelligence and its closely related subjects.

More labs at ITU, NUST, LUMS, PUCIT, FAST, and other universities are also working to find solutions to fundamental AI difficulties. They engage with organisations like Google and Facebook and publish their work in prestigious worldwide venues.

Scope of AI in Pakistan:

With a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence (BSAI), a student can enter a wide range of industries, businesses, and professions that heavily rely on computers. Students have access to exciting options such as machine learning engineers, data scientists, business intelligence developers, big data engineers, and many more.

The Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Computing (PIAIC) held its main entrance test for 2022 at the National Stadium in Karachi, where almost 25,000 students from all over Sindh participated. The project seeks to empower Pakistani youth by providing them with training and financial support to enable them start their own businesses.

AI and Medicine:

Over the past few decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has gained prominence, and medical applications of AI are expanding globally. Pakistan and other developing nations are lagging behind in the adoption of AI-based healthcare solutions.

Since AI may aid in resource allocation in addition to diagnosis and monitoring, it should be incorporated into the healthcare system. The majority of doctors and medical students in Pakistan are unfamiliar of artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications, but they think AI will be useful in medicine and are willing to use it.

AI and Journalism:

Journalism is currently undergoing a revolution thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Automated news authorship and dissemination already exist without human direction or management, albeit the reader is typically unaware of this. In the future, human and machine journalism are expected to merge more and more.

In various Western and economically developed nations have already started using AI in journalistic practise. A study reveals a variety of barriers to the use of automation and devices with AI in Pakistani newsrooms. At the top of the list are a lack of funding and accurate statistics.

Pakistan lacks automated journalism training in addition to poor data accessibility and accuracy, as well as a lack of a government plan to support AI-enhanced journalism.

Read More: ChatGPT vs Google bard: Which one is Better

The Bottom-Line:

Before Pakistan can be considered great, it still has a long way to go in this area. Technological advances are particularly needed in a few industries, like healthcare and agriculture. To maintain its competitiveness in the international economy, Pakistan needs to formulate a national AI policy as soon as possible.

In terms of using AI and benefiting from the fourth industrial revolution, Pakistan already lags behind the rest of the globe. It would be disastrous for the national effort to miss the AI wave. It must fund initiatives that encourage young people to pursue AI research and education while bridging the gap between industry and academia. Pakistan  needs to establish more NCAI-style facilities and teach some of the 600k IT professionals it already has.