ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has yet to finalise the National Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Artificial Intelligence across the globe is an evolving regime and governments are planning to put in place processes, procedures and regulations to optimise benefit from the potential of Artificial Intelligence and also to mitigate the associated risk factors.

Sources revealed that the policy is in the draft stage and consultation with all stakeholders is in the pipeline. The Draft Policy has been placed on the website of Ministry of IT and Telecom since June 2023 for soliciting feedback from all the stakeholders.

The Ministry of IT and Telecom has already constituted an Artificial Intelligence Policy Committee to culminate consultation and finalise the draft. The Policy Committee consists of experts from industry, academia, civil society and government. The regulatory framework existing in the draft policy consists of five main pillars.

At present there does not exist any AI-specific regulatory structure in the country, however, number of initiatives including laws/rules/policy etc in the ministry attempts to address the potential challenges associated with use of AI. This includes but is not limited to the National Cyber Security Policy 2021, Pakistan Cloud First Policy 2022, CERT Rules 2023 and other sectorial regulations such as Critical Telecom Data and Infrastructure Security Regulation (CTDISR).

Furthermore, the Data Governance Policy will set the ground for a conducive environment towards enabling all stakeholders for seamless data exchange as envisaged in the Digital Economy Enhance Project (DEEP). It is significant to add that the first pillar of AI provides for AI Regulatory Directorate, Center of Excellence in AI and other measurers will help enable an AI-specific regulatory framework which will conduct need base assessment of data being created and processed for the defined purposes.

The Draft AI Policy to be introduced by Ministry of IT and Telecom provides a solid foundation for regulating the development and use of AI in Pakistan. The proposed framework aims to strike a balance between promoting innovation and addressing potential risks to ensure that the AI is used for the benefit of society.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024