Pakistan sovereign AI plan gets $1bn push at Seoul summit

Pakistan sovereign AI took centre stage in Seoul, where IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja unveiled a $1 billion funding plan through 2030.

She spoke at the Global AI and Digital Summit, which is under way in the capital of South Korea. South Korea’s government and the World Bank Group jointly host the event.

Her keynote presented a roadmap called “Digital and AI Compacts: From Ambition to Action.”

What Pakistan sovereign AI means

Khawaja said Pakistan wanted to lean less on foreign AI models. Instead, it would build its own capacity and gain firmer control over its digital infrastructure, which makes Pakistan sovereign AI a policy goal.

She called for “Sovereign AI” shaped by local languages and cultural contexts. National autonomy in the digital age, she argued, depends on technology that Pakistanis develop themselves.

Public bodies should not wait for perfect readiness, she added. In her view, they must act with urgency on new technology. She cited United Nations warnings that institutions are not ready for autonomous decision-making platforms.

Money, skills and rules

The $1 billion commitment covers AI development by 2030. Khawaja also set goals of digital training for one million professionals outside tech, and 1,000 fully funded AI doctorates, aimed at stronger research.

However, reports note that the training and scholarship numbers are targets, not finished results. Pakistan sovereign AI therefore depends on delivery.

Draft rules would require clear labels for synthetic media. They would also give citizens a right to human review of automated decisions, and public agencies would complete impact assessments before they deploy AI.

Parliament passed the Digital Nation Pakistan Act in 2025. It set up a National Digital Commission under the prime minister to drive a plan that runs to 2035. A National Digital Master Plan aims to digitise 12 priority sectors by then.

Meanwhile, the government is building a connected system for identity, instant payments and safe data sharing. It also set 57 technical standards to help private firms plug in.

Connectivity and global ambitions

At a separate panel, Khawaja said Pakistan views AI mainly as a network challenge, because AI needs reliable connections. About 70% of its people are under 30, and telecom subscribers have passed 200 million.

In March, Pakistan held its largest spectrum auction and raised $509 million. Six months on, she said, 5G had launched at over 1,700 sites across 24 major cities, with average speeds of 130 Mbps.

She added that operators have laid more than 234,000 km of optical fiber. The country has also abolished right-of-way charges for fiber in talks with the provinces, and six submarine cables link it to the world.

As president of that cooperation body, Pakistan has a platform. It plans to hand developing nations its open-source national tech stack at no cost, so Pakistan sovereign AI could also serve partners. Khawaja also met a Google vice president and talked about expanding the company’s presence in Pakistan.

For now, Pakistan sovereign AI remains a plan backed by targets, and the next test is delivery at home.