Pakistan to Develop Urdu LLM for Generative AI
National University of Science and Technology (NUST), National Information Technology Board (NITB) and Telecom network operator Jazz have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop Pakistan’s first indigenous Large Language Model (LLM) with focus on Urdu, including datasets for Pashto and Punjabi languages. It is aimed at empowering individuals, businesses, and organizations with advanced AI tools in their native languages. The envisioned LLM is expected to drive innovation in Generative AI applications, boosting productivity and accessibility in critical sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture.
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| GPT-4 Accuracy Scores. Source: The Economist |
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are powered by large language models, or LLMs. These models need to be trained on vast amounts of data in specific languages to be useful. Unfortunately, the Urdu content of the Internet is less than 0.1%. This will present a challenge for the developers of Urdu LLMs.
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| Online Content of Various Languages. Source: W3Techs |
Lack of Urdu content available for training ChatGPT affects the accuracy of the results for Urdu language users. For example, the GPT-4 accuracy score in question-answer tests in Urdu is just over 70%, compared with 85% accuracy score in the English language, according to data from OpenAI. Other South Asian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi and Telugu, suffer from the same problem.
It's not just a South Asian problem. These challenges exist in the developing world. Non-European languages are generally poorly represented online. It's a major obstacle for non-European nations in developing their own generative artificial-intelligence (AI) models, which rely on vast amounts of training data. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) can produce biased results due to a number of factors, including the data it's trained on, the algorithms used, and how it's deployed.
The use of AI in developing nations such as Pakistan will remain limited to a small number of people proficient in the use of the English language. Broadening the adoption of AI applications will require LLMs trained on local language content. The absence of this development could cost Pakistan the opportunity to take full advantage of the AI Revolution.
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https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/10/24/2968536/0/en/VEON-s-Jazz-Launches-FikrFree-An-AI-Powered-Digital-Marketplace-to-Unlock-Affordable-Insurance-and-Healthcare-in-Pakistan.html
VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator (“VEON” or the “Company”), today announces that Jazz, its digital operator in Pakistan, has launched FikrFree, a new AI-powered digital marketplace for insurance and healthcare. The platform aims to bridge a significant gap in Pakistan, where insurance sector penetration is less than 1% of GDP according to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, and millions lack access to essential healthcare. In comparison, insurance penetration in other countries is significantly higher (over 7% of GDP in the US and more than 9% of GDP in the UK, according to the World Bank). FikrFree helps users find accessible and affordable coverage through personalized insurance plans and healthcare services.
FikrFree aims to reach the underserved healthcare market in Pakistan through an innovative platform that seamlessly integrates insurance, healthcare, and financial services all in one mobile app. FikrFree also leverages artificial intelligence to recommend personalized insurance plans for customers. The new digital service builds on VEON’s commitment to creating innovative digital solutions as part of its Digital Operator 1440 strategy, offering customers a portfolio of connected services that are relevant for each of the 1,440 minutes in a day. In 2Q24, direct digital revenues represented over 10% of VEON Group’s total revenues.
"Access to affordable healthcare is a fundamental need. In Pakistan, where millions struggle to find suitable insurance coverage and healthcare services, VEON is addressing this challenge with connected digital services. With the launch of FikrFree, we are empowering customers to access personalized insurance plans, specialist doctors, and on-demand medicine delivery—all in one seamless platform. Our digital operator strategy focuses on investing in services that enhance lives, and with FikrFree, we aim to make affordable healthcare accessible to all Pakistanis," says Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group.
https://www.unodc.org/copak/en/Stories/SP4/unodc-pakistan-provided-law-enforcement-with-cutting-edge-training-on-crime-analytics-and-ai-models-to-counter-terrorism.html
28 September 2024, Islamabad - UNODC Pakistan organized a comprehensive workshop aimed at building the capacity of National Counter Terrorism Authority analyst’s in using advanced crime analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to combat terrorism. The workshop covered a wide range of critical topics, equipping participants with the skills and knowledge needed to analyze data and counter terrorism through innovative AI techniques. In total 25 analysts including 7 women participated in the training session.
The participants were introduced to the fundamentals of intelligence gathering, the intelligence cycle, and the development of intelligence products. Practical discussions were held around strategic intelligence and its pivotal role in decision-making. Participants also reviewed products developed in earlier training sessions on i2 Analyst's Notebook and Power BI, enabling them to grasp how past learnings integrate with the current focus on terrorism prevention. The workshop covered data analysis, beginning with an introduction to various data forms and their relevance in crime intelligence. Sessions covered both qualitative and quantitative data, with participants learning how to distinguish between structured and unstructured data and their real-world applications in intelligence work.
The hands-on segment includes Textalyser, an online tool used to analyze qualitative data specially for conducting sentimental analysis allowing participants to experiment with real-world examples. Participants were engaged through thought-provoking case studies, including analyses of social media sentiment and notable incidents such as the Al Qaeda network and the Sialkot lynching case. These examples highlighted the practical value of AI tools like Voyant in unraveling criminal networks and understanding public sentiment related to terrorist activities.
The overall workshop was dedicated to hands-on sessions with low-code and no-code AI platforms, empowering participants to leverage AI without the need for extensive programming knowledge. Practical exercises included case studies using Google Teachable Machines for image classification and Google Cloud AutoML for predictive crime analytics, both of which offer powerful tools for identifying criminal patterns and behaviors in complex datasets.
The workshop concluded with a closing session that recapped the key learnings and allowed participants to discuss the next steps in their professional development.
https://arxiv.org/html/2407.04459v1
In this paper, we compare general-purpose pretrained models, (OpenAI's) GPT-4-Turbo and (Meta/Facebook) Llama-3-8b-Instruct with special-purpose models fine-tuned on specific tasks, XLM-Roberta-large, mT5-large, and Llama-3-8b-Instruct. We focus on seven classification and six generation tasks to evaluate the performance of these models on Urdu language. Urdu has 70 million native speakers, yet it remains underrepresented in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Despite the frequent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), their performance in low-resource languages, including Urdu, still needs to be explored. We also conduct a human evaluation for the generation tasks and compare the results with the evaluations performed by GPT-4-Turbo and Llama-3-8b-Instruct. We find that special-purpose models consistently outperform general-purpose models across various tasks. We also find that the evaluation done by GPT-4-Turbo for generation tasks aligns more closely with human evaluation compared to the evaluation by Llama-3-8b-Instruct. This paper contributes to the NLP community by providing insights into the effectiveness of general and specific-purpose LLMs for low-resource languages.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/labelers-training-ai-say-theyre-overworked-underpaid-and-exploited-60-minutes-transcript/
Naftali Wambalo: I did labeling for videos and images.
Naftali and digital workers like him, spent eight hours a day in front of a screen studying photos and videos, drawing boxes around objects and labeling them, teaching the AI algorithms to recognize them.
Naftali Wambalo: You'd label, let's say, furniture in a house. And you say "This is a TV. This is a microwave." So you are teaching the AI to identify these items. And then there was one for faces of people. The color of the face. "If it looks like this, this is white. If it looks like this, it's Black. This is Asian." You're teaching the AI to identify them automatically.
Humans tag cars and pedestrians to teach autonomous vehicles not to hit them. Humans circle abnormalities to teach AI to recognize diseases. Even as AI is getting smarter, humans in the loop will always be needed because there will always be new devices and inventions that'll need labeling.
Lesley Stahl: You find these humans in the loop not only here in Kenya but in other countries thousands of miles from Silicon Valley. In India, the Philippines, Venezuela - often countries with large low wage populations - well educated but unemployed.
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: Honestly, it's like modern-day slavery. Because it's cheap labor–
Lesley Stahl: Whoa. What do you –
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: It's cheap labor.
Like modern day slavery, says Nerima Wako-Ojiwa, a Kenyan civil rights activist, because big American tech companies come here and advertise the jobs as a ticket to the future. But really, she says, it's exploitation.
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: What we're seeing is an inequality.
Lesley Stahl: It sounds so good. An AI job! Is there any job security?
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: The contracts that we see are very short-term. And I've seen people who have contracts that are monthly, some of them weekly, some of them days. Which is ridiculous.
She calls the workspaces AIi sweatshops with computers instead of sewing machines.
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: I think that we're so concerned with "creating opportunities," but we're not asking, "Are they good opportunities?"
Because every year a million young people enter the job market, the government has been courting tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Intel to come here, promoting Kenya's reputation as the Silicon Savannah: tech savvy and digitally connected.
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: The president has been really pushing for opportunities in AI –
Lesley Stahl: President?
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa: Yes.
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Fasica: I was basically reviewing content which are very graphic, very disturbing contents. I was watching dismembered bodies or drone attack victims. You name it. You know, whenever I talk about this, I still have flashbacks.
Lesley Stahl: Are any of you a different person than they were before you had this job?
Fasica: Yeah. I find it hard now to even have conversations with people. It's just that I find it easier to cry than to speak.
Nathan: You continue isolating you-- yourself from people. You don't want to socialize with others. It's you and it's you alone.
Lesley Stahl: Are you a different person?
Naftali Wambalo: Yeah. I'm a different person. I used to enjoy my marriage, especially when it comes to bedroom fireworks. But after the job I hate sex.
Lesley Stahl: You hated sex?
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These three and nearly 200 other digital workers are suing SAMA and Meta over "unreasonable working conditions" that caused psychiatric problems
@globaltimesnews
AI is rapidly transforming various industries in China, creating numerous job opportunities, including in the field of data labeling. Recently, Global Times reporters visited the Ningxia Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park in Wuzhong, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China, to explore how AI, as a new driving force in productivity, is generating not only new employment opportunities but also new challenges and trends. At a local data labeling base, young annotators can be seen busily identifying specific words in text or speech, outlining objects in images or videos, and tagging them on their computers.
https://x.com/globaltimesnews/status/1869594668180369511
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Inside the Ningxia Data Labeling Industrial Base in NW China
https://www.globaltimes.cn/galleries/5598.html
Editor's Note:
AI is rapidly transforming various industries in China, creating numerous job opportunities, including in the field of data labeling. Recently, Global Times reporters visited the Ningxia Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park in Wuzhong, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China, to explore how AI, as a new driving force in productivity, is generating not only new employment opportunities but also new challenges and trends. At a local data labeling base, young annotators can be seen busily identifying specific words in text or speech, outlining objects in images or videos, and tagging them on their computers. (Photos: Chen Tao/GT)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/24/how-chinas-new-ai-model-deepseek-is-threatening-us-dominance.html
A little-known AI lab out of China has ignited panic throughout Silicon Valley after releasing AI models that can outperform America's best despite being built more cheaply and with less-powerful chips.
DeepSeek, as the lab is called, unveiled a free, open-source large-language model in late December that it says took only two months and less than $6 million to build, using reduced-capability chips from Nvidia called H800s.
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China’s cheap, open AI model DeepSeek thrills scientists
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00229-6
A Chinese-built large language model called DeepSeek-R1 is thrilling scientists as an affordable and open rival to ‘reasoning’ models such as OpenAI’s o1.
These models generate responses step-by-step, in a process analogous to human reasoning. This makes them more adept than earlier language models at solving scientific problems and could make them useful in research. Initial tests of R1, released on 20 January, show that its performance on certain tasks in chemistry, mathematics and coding is on par with that of o1 — which wowed researchers when it was released by OpenAI in September.
“This is wild and totally unexpected,” Elvis Saravia, an AI researcher and co-founder of the UK-based AI consulting firm DAIR.AI, wrote on X.
R1 stands out for another reason. DeepSeek, the start-up in Hangzhou that built the model, has released it as ‘open-weight’, meaning that researchers can study and build on the algorithm. Published under an MIT licence, the model can be freely reused but is not considered fully open source, because its training data has not been made available.
“The openness of DeepSeek is quite remarkable,” says Mario Krenn, leader of the Artificial Scientist Lab at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany. By comparison, o1 and other models built by OpenAI in San Francisco, California, including its latest effort o3 are “essentially black boxes”, he says.
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China’s AI industry has almost caught up with America’s And it is more open and more efficient, too
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/01/23/chinas-ai-industry-has-almost-caught-up-with-americas
The WORLD’s first “reasoning model”, an advanced form of artificial intelligence, was released in September by OpenAI, an American firm. o1, as it is called, uses a “chain of thought” to answer difficult questions in science and mathematics, breaking down problems to their constituent steps and testing various approaches to the task behind the scenes before presenting a conclusion to the user. Its unveiling set off a race to copy this method. Google came up with a reasoning model called “Gemini Flash Thinking” in December. OpenAI responded with o3, an update of o1, a few days later.
https://propakistani.pk/2025/03/22/pakistan-launches-its-first-homegrown-ai-chatbot-tailored-for-local-needs/
Pakistan has achieved a notable milestone in the tech sector with the beta launch of Zahanat AI, the nation’s first locally developed artificial intelligence chatbot. Spearheaded by entrepreneur Mehwish Salman Ali, co-founder and CEO of Data Vault and Zahanat AI, the platform promises to address Pakistan’s unique challenges with culturally sensitive and locally relevant solutions.
Zahanat AI is the culmination of years of development, operating from a dedicated data center in Karachi since 2022. This means that the AI model’s data stays in Pakistan for processing and doesn’t go anywhere else. This data center is connected with high-speed internet and has robust DDoS protection.
The system utilizes a mixed GPU architecture, leveraging both Nvidia GPUs and chips, initially incorporating used gaming GPUs to build its computational power. It was a relatively low-cost development project. The owners said that DeepSeek cost $5 million to make, but Zahanat AI cost less, without specifying exactly how much.
Mehwish Salman Ali said:
Our goal was to create an AI that understands and responds to the specific needs of Pakistan. Zahanat AI is trained on a massive dataset of 2 billion parameters, all processed and stored within Pakistan, ensuring cultural awareness and relevance.
A key distinguishing feature of Zahanat AI is its focus on ethical and responsible AI development. The platform is specifically trained to censor sensitive topics and avoid discussions about particular individuals.
The beta launch of Zahanat AI is currently on an invitational basis, requiring interested users to submit their email and personal details, including their profession, work email, and social media accounts. This selective access aims to gather valuable feedback and refine the platform before a wider public release.
ALSO READ
Baidu’s New AI Model “Rivals Deepseek At Half the Price”
Ali further explained:
By training Zahanat AI on Pakistan’s data, we are building a tool that can provide Pakistan-focused solutions to the diverse problems faced by our communities. We believe this technology has the potential to transform various sectors, from education and healthcare to business and governance.
For now, the beta launch has introduced Zahanat AI’s initial Z1 model, with plans to improve and expand further in the future with Z2 and so on. The Z2 model will introduce multilingual support for all languages in Pakistan and will get voice input as well.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594353/pakistan
Zahanat AI is a text-based generative AI model that enables users to engage in human-like conversations, answer queries, and assist in various domains
Its key differentiator is its hosting and local training on Pakistani culture and localized issues, which makes it equipped to address regional challenges
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Meet the woman who made Pakistan's first AI chatbot
https://theprint.in/go-to-pakistan/woman-pakistans-first-ai-chatbot-mehwish-salman-ali/2567308/
The platform is designed to empower Pakistani citizens, particularly in sectors like education and healthcare. One of Zahanat’s most anticipated developments is the upcoming Z2 model, which will support Urdu and multiple regional languages. This is a game-changer for more than half of Pakistan’s population, a large part of which struggleswith English or even Urdu.
Ali imagines the platform being used by a rural student to access world-class education in their native Sindhi or Pashto. She dreams of Zahanat helping an elderly womanreceive her healthcare diagnosis in Balochi.
“We’re not just enabling access to AI, we’re redefining who gets to be part of the ecosystem. We’re moving from a digital divide to digital empowerment. This isn’t just tech progress. It’s social progress,” Ali said.
Zahanat is a personal mission for Ali to break the gender barriers that persist in tech. She has faced bias in the male-dominated industry, both spoken and unspoken.
“When I lead a project like Zahanat, it’s not just innovation, it’s disruption. It’s proof that women can lead tech.”
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Kineto: K-Electric Becomes Pakistan’s First Power Utility to launch Generative AI Chatbot To Enhance Customer Experience
https://propakistani.pk/2025/03/26/kineto-k-electric-becomes-pakistans-first-power-utility-to-launch-generative-ai-chatbot-to-enhance-customer-experience/
“Users of the KE Live App have grown by 21% annually over the last 5 years and now stand at 1.3 million digitally connected customers. This is over one-third of KE’s total customer base and conveys our digital-savvy population. We then heralded another innovation when we launched the WhatsApp platform back in 2021, and now this platform caters to over 2.0 million people. Additionally, nearly another half a million subscribe to our e-billing feature, a step that helps save Pakistan paper and reduce its import bill.”
“Now, leading the way with digital transformation in customer engagement, Kineto was just the next logical step forward reflecting our investment in future-ready digital platforms, further transforming the way Karachi’s customers interact with its power utility.”
The chatbot has been developed in collaboration with Convex Interactive, KE’s technology partner for this initiative.
“This partnership with K-Electric aligns with our mission to revolutionize customer engagement through AI,” said Aamir Irfan Siddiqui, CEO & Founder of Convex Interactive. “By leveraging generative AI, we’re making customer interactions faster, smarter, and more intuitive.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1296015-tcf-set-to-bring-ai-powered-learning-to-teachers-with-khanmigo
The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and Khan Academy Pakistan have announced an innovative AI-powered collaboration to support teachers and enhance classroom learning in selected TCF schools.
This pilot initiative aims to empower teachers by enhancing teachers’ lesson delivery, fostering critical thinking, and improving classroom engagement for students in Grades 6-8. Under this collaboration, Khanmigo will be integrated into selected TCF schools to enhance mathematics and science instruction.
Unlike traditional AI, Khanmigo acts as an interactive teaching assistant, helping educators enhance their knowledge, craft lesson hooks, develop quizzes, and foster deeper student engagement.
The pilot programme will equip teachers with AI-driven teacher tools, provide structured prompts to guide teachers to develop learning material relevant to their students, and offer bilingual support in English and Urdu.
Additionally, Khan Academy Pakistan will train school leaders on effective AI integration, offering guidance on best practices for using Khanmigo in classrooms. This initiative will empower TCF teachers to refine their teaching methods, personalise learning experiences, and drive meaningful classroom discussions, making AI-driven learning more accessible, structured, and engaging for students. “At TCF, we want to ensure that technology serves as a bridge to better learning opportunities rather than a barrier,” shared Syed Asaad Ayub Ahmad, the president and CEO of TCF.
“We are hopeful that Khanmigo will be useful in serving as a thinking partner for TCF teachers in the classroom and a transformative step towards making high-quality education accessible and engaging.”
One of Khanmigo’s most promising features is its bilingual support, allowing teachers to instruct in both English and Urdu. This ensures that educators from diverse backgrounds can fully engage with the content. As the programme progresses, regional language support will be explored, further broadening its accessibility.
“Khanmigo aims to give every child in Pakistan access to world-class education,” said Zeeshan Hasan, CEO of Khan Academy Pakistan. “By empowering teachers, we are ensuring that AI becomes a tool for empowerment rather than a shortcut. This partnership with TCF is a step forward towards transforming how education is delivered in classrooms.”
“TCF strongly believes in the power of good teachers, and there is an undeniable social aspect of learning from a teacher. We are hopeful that KhanMigo will augment teacher skills to make classroom experience fun, engaging, and meaningful for the students,” shared Shazia Kamal, executive vice president, Outcomes at TCF.
With Pakistan facing a critical education crisis and a shortage of trained teachers, AI-powered solutions like Khanmigo offer a scalable and cost-effective way to enhance teaching quality.
While this initiative is currently in its pilot phase, TCF and Khan Academy Pakistan envision expanding the programme to more schools.
As AI continues to reshape global education, this partnership reaffirms TCF’s commitment to equipping teachers with the best tools to inspire and educate the next generation of Pakistan’s changemakers.
TCF is a non-profit organisation set up in 1995 by a group of citizens who wanted to bring about positive social change through education.
The 30-year-old organisation is among Pakistan’s leading organisations in the field of education, educating 301,000 students across 2,033 school units in the country.
https://propakistani.pk/2025/04/07/pakistani-developer-builds-first-ai-voice-tool-for-sindhi-users/
A young Pakistani developer has successfully managed to create the first-ever AI tool to assist with the Sindhi language. These tools enable text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (SST) in Sindhi for the first time.
The 23-year-old software developer from Hyderabad, Fahad Maqsood Qazi, began work last year on an AI-based dubbing system for his company, Flis Technologies. During development, he realized there were no basic text-to-speech (TTS) or speech-to-text (STT) tools for Sindhi—a language spoken by nearly 40 million people worldwide.
Starting from Scratch
In August 2023, Qazi began gathering and transcribing hours of Sindhi audio from various sources, including YouTube videos, audiobooks, and news reports, to build a training dataset. Around the same time, he came across Mozilla’s Common Voice project, where Google employee Asad Memon had added Sindhi support.
Qazi merged that data with his own and began training AI models. By January 2024, he had built initial working versions of Sindhi TTS and STT systems. He also developed a tokenizer, a necessary tool for processing language in machine learning models, since one was not previously available for Sindhi.
Supporting Language Access
Sindhi is not formally taught in many countries where Sindhi-speaking communities live, which can result in younger generations being less familiar with the language. Qazi hopes his tools will make it easier for people to read, write, and speak Sindhi through digital platforms.
Qazi told Arab News:
My goal is to help them stay connected to it through speech and text tools. In many diaspora communities, younger Sindhis grow up without learning to read or write in their language.
In March, he uploaded his models to HuggingFace, which is essentially the GitHub for AI models, allowing developers and researchers access to his work.
Everyday Use and Accessibility
Qazi’s models could help Sindhi speakers send messages using speech input or listen to written text read aloud in Sindhi. These tools may also assist older adults and people with limited formal education in using the language in everyday communication.
Qazi said:
A person who can’t read Sindhi could use the TTS model to hear written stories. Or someone who never learned to write could still search for information and get answers by speaking.
Long-Term Potential
Qazi believes that the addition of Sindhi to tools like TTS and STT is necessary for the language to remain relevant in digital communication and technology.
“Without access to tools like these, Sindhi could be excluded from digital spaces,” he said. “Now it can be part of systems like voice interfaces, educational resources, and translation tools.”
By addressing a basic gap in language technology, Qazi’s work gives others a foundation to build further tools for Sindhi users, ensuring better access and usability in an increasingly digital world.
https://propakistani.pk/2025/06/19/e-agri-leads-agritech-revolution-in-pakistan-with-euronet-pakistan-and-cma-as-strategic-digital-payment-partners/
E-Agri has officially launched a breakthrough digital platform designed to overhaul the country’s agricultural landscape. This game-changing initiative, conceptualized and led by E-Agri, brings together the power of artificial intelligence, real-time data, and digital finance to empower farmers at an unprecedented scale.
To enable seamless financial transactions within this bold digital ecosystem, E-Agri has onboarded Euronet Pakistan and CMA as payment processing partners—leveraging their global expertise to support the scale and complexity of Pakistan’s agriculture-driven economy.
E-Agri’s platform delivers a comprehensive, farmer-centric experience—combining AI-powered crop intelligence, weather analytics, expert advisories, and localized agri-research with fully integrated financial services. From seed to sale, farmers are now empowered to make informed decisions, access digital payments, and engage in transparent market transactions—all from their mobile devices.
https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ai/telenor-pakistan-teams-up-for-sovereign-ai-54406/
Telenor Pakistan is collaborating with Data Vault to offer sovereign AI services
The partners are pitching multiple offers to Pakistan’s enterprises, including GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS)
The pledge is that all processing and data storage is in-country
Telenor Pakistan has struck a strategic partnership with Data Vault, which claims to be the country’s only AI factory facility, to pitch an ‘AI-ready sovereign cloud’ joint offering to the B2B sector in Pakistan.
The partners are offering the country’s enterprises secure access to locally hosted GPU-enabled computing infrastructure, something that, according to the partners, hasn’t been available to Pakistan’s business sector until now.
Business users will be able to undertake AI training, inference workloads and data processing, as well as develop large language models (LLMs) for Urdu and regional languages, within the country’s borders using Data Vault’s AI factory infrastructure, which will be available on a GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) basis.
“Data Vault Pakistan is thrilled to announce a strategic alliance with Telenor Pakistan, bringing sovereign GPU-as-a-service and managed AI platforms to enterprises across the country,” the company announced. “As Pakistan’s first AI datacentre and sovereign AI cloud, we’re enabling Telenor to deliver secure, locally hosted, Nvidia-accelerated AI infrastructure for sectors like finance, healthcare, manufacturing, telecom and public services, ensuring full data residency and compliance,” it added.
According to the partners, the services comply fully with healthcare data laws and emerging national AI safety guidelines, as well as with the regulatory frameworks created by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and State Bank of Pakistan.
Mehwish Salman Ali, CEO at Data Vault Pakistan, stated: “Today we are turning sovereign, high-performance computing into a national capability. By weaving Data Vault Cloud into Telenor Pakistan’s enterprise portfolio, we are giving every organisation a secure, local path from idea to inference – without sending data abroad. This is how Pakistan moves from consuming AI to producing it.”
Telenor and Data Vault reportedly plan to jointly develop industry-specific AI applications, focusing on fintech, healthcare, telecom automation, agri-tech, and smart governance.
Such developments will be in focus during TelecomTV’s Digital Sovereignty Forum in London on 3 December – if you can make it, come and join in, or watch out for on-demand recordings of the sessions.
The announcement comes just as Telenor Pakistan, which has about 42.4 million mobile customers, is set to finally become part of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), which agreed to acquire Telenor Pakistan in late 2023 for about $500m. PTCL has about 27.2 million mobile customers via its Ufone mobile operation.
The Competition Commission of Pakistan recently granted approval for the deal and PTCL’s shareholders have also approved the transaction, leaving only the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to give the green light.
Once completed, PTCL will be the country’s second-largest mobile operator with about 71.6 million customers for a market share of about 35.5%, second only to Jazz (with about 72.6 million customers, 37% market share) and ahead of Zong (52 million, 26.5% market share).
- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV
https://www.dawn.com/news/1958664/pakistans-ai-potential-being-unlocked-with-local-data-centre
The availability of Nvidia circuits also enables enterprises to access advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) for computing and for the locally hosted AI infrastructure.
The development comes amid restrictions by the US on Nvidia from exporting its AI chips, particularly to China, amid a trade war between the two powerhouses. Data Vault, however, said they had a “special” approval from Nvidia for their GPUs.
Besides export restrictions, global GPU shortages and high import costs have also limited Pakistan’s ability to adopt enterprise-grade AI.
Powered by Nvidia enterprise-grade GPUs, data centre to boost artificial intelligence adoption, improve cybersecurity by keeping data within country
However, this project, which was approved after strict checks, provides Pakistan with an opportunity to capitalise on Nvidia accelerators to unlock its AI potential.
The move is likely to upgrade Pakistan’s AI adoption across sectors, such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, public safety, logistics, agriculture, and government services, by providing the high-performance computing power and compliance-ready environment needed for modern AI applications.
Mehwish Salman Ali, Data Vault chief executive officer, said Data Vault Pakistan was the only data centre in the country providing GPU services. “Though it is difficult, we have obtained more than 3,000 GPUs for usage and provide them as services,” Ms Ali said, adding, “This has made us the only AI-enabled data centre based in the country.”
According to Ms Ali, Data Vault Pakistan has “official and special” approval from Nvidia for GPUs and they buy these from Nvidia partners.
“There is a global shortage of GPUs and there are US export-control sanctions. Pakistan is also on the restricted list, so in normal circumstances, no one in Pakistan can buy these enterprise-grade GPUs legally,” she said, adding that their company went through very “strict technical, compliance and financing checks” for this.
“We started this process early, committed to a multi-year programme and went through their authorised partners, so our project was approved,” she added.
It may be noted that GPU is a specialised electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a component on a discrete graphics card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. This partnership will also help Telenor customers to gain on-demand access to GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS).
Data protection
The company has said that the availability of sovereign GPU infrastructure locally will help Pakistani researchers, startups, enterprises, and universities develop LLMs for Urdu and regional languages, as well as sector-specific AI for fintech and other purposes. As AI is redefining every industry, the core of this revolution lies in GPU computing.
Moreover, by keeping all data within Pakistan, the sovereign cloud strengthens cybersecurity, defence, auditability and transparency, access control and identity management, privacy and digital trust, and national data protection.
As data processing will be entirely within Pakistan’s borders and hosted inside Data Vault’s high-density AI data centre, this will eliminate the risk of the transfer of sensitive datasets, including financial transactions, healthcare imaging, telecom data, and government records, to be processed outside the country.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1951569
The announcement was made during an event titled “Future in Focus: AI and Innovation”, held in collaboration with the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), the release said. Meta also announced the start of an experimental programme for AI education and government digital transformation in Pakistan.
“These initiatives aim to accelerate the process of digital transformation in the country,” the release said. “Pakistani users will now be able to interact with Meta AI not only in English but also in Urdu.”
Speaking at the event, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja said, “Under the Prime Minister’s Digital Nation Vision, Pakistan is moving toward a future where technology empowers every citizen.
“Our partnership with Meta reflects this commitment, promoting AI education, digital transformation, and innovation within government and educational institutions. The inclusion of Urdu in Meta AI marks a milestone that makes technology more inclusive and accessible, ensuring no one is left behind in this digital transformation journey,” she said.
Meta’s Director of Public Policy for South and Central Asia, Sarim Aziz, added: “We aim to support public sector and educational institutions in driving digital transformation through effective use of AI. We are also delighted that Meta AI is now available in Urdu, giving the local community new opportunities to connect with technology in their own language.”
According to the release, Meta has also introduced a localised edition of the guide “Transforming Public Sector Innovation in Asia Pacific with Llama”, developed in collaboration with Deloitte.
Prepared with the support of the ministry, the guide explains how Meta’s open-source AI model, Llama, can enhance government operations, improve public services, and strengthen data sovereignty. The document highlights best practices and successful examples from various Asia-Pacific countries, including Pakistan.
Similarly, Meta said it has launched the AI Literacy Programme in partnership with the Higher Education Commission (HEC), National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC), MoITT, and atomcamp.
“Under this programme, 350 non-computer science university teachers across Pakistan will be trained in basic AI skills so they can prepare students to meet the demands of the modern digital era,” the release added.
Meta also announced the Government Digital Transformation Xperience (GDTX) 2025 program, which aims to provide Pakistan’s public institutions with Meta’s technologies, solutions, and best practices. The programme, according to Meta, will bring together experts from the public and private sectors to exchange strategies and experiences for effective digital transformation.
Seema Chishti
https://thewire.in/culture/after-11-5-years-of-officially-trying-to-redefine-indian-culture-we-have-fa9la
Jashn-e-Rekhta (Rekhta, meaning “mixed”), the Urdu festival organised since 2015 on an industrial scale) was the biggest open-air event in the capital between December 5 and 7. Approximately 120,000 people came and inhaled Delhi’s noxious air to be a part of the live vibe. Audiences were visibly transfixed by the sounds and draw they felt towards Urdu. Jashn-e-Rekhta gets panned in some circles for not being political enough or focussing on just the foods, lyricism and ‘beauty’ surrounding a great Indian language, currently in an existential crisis. But we have come to a point when howsoever unintended, even signalling surviving and thriving is a political act.
Scholar and public intellectual Alok Rai – also Premchand’s grandson – was in the capital speaking on Urdu’s future. He spoke on how despite mounting government pressure to keep Urdu out of the room, it is unable to make it go away. Its popularity, in his view, stems from two important places; first, it having developed from an engagement with several languages and territories in India, and being spoken in India over centuries, meant the sounds and tones have been sandpapered and polished, rendered almost mellifluous to the human ear. Second, Bombay Hindi cinema music serves as the basic emotional landscape of those parts of India familiar with Hindi. That sensibility has almost intravenously fed Hindustani and Urdu into our psyche.
History suggests such purification drives backfire. Could we be seeing a replay of how misplaced ideas of India’s first I&B minister B.V. Keskar for a ‘pure’ All India Radio (AIR), banning them from playing impure Hindi film songs (in Hindustani) served as rocket-fuel for the popularity of both Hindi film music and the derided harmonium? It eventually forced AIR to acquiesce and start a station, Vividh Bharti, that would play Hindi film music. This is a point very effectively made by Isabel Huacuja Alonso in Radio for the Millions, Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders.
At Alok Rai’s public lecture on Sunday, former Culture Secretary Ashok Vajpayee recounted that in Ujjain during Mahakal this year, he was visiting after it was no longer Shahi Sawari, but Rajsi Sawari, as de-Urdufication was on. He addressed the locals in a gathering and told them he was very puzzled, “bhai, sawari bhi to Urdu hai (even sawaari is an Urdu word)”.
A drive towards ‘One-Culture’, being about only ‘one’ imagined, Brahminical Hindutva-laden variety, is unable to really get around the multiple strands of what makes the Indian weave. Arabic rap, qawwali beats, the dots, dashes and accents that make for a happy “mixed” and mixed-up confluence remain the top notes of all that is Indian.