“WE will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own …
asserted
we → eat → own
We have no other choice!”
asserted
We → have → choice
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had famously remarked as he voiced this nation’s determination to build an indigenous nuclear deterrent programme that had, by the mid-1960s, become an existential necessity.
asserted
that → remark → mid-1960s
Some seven years later, Pakistan made it a policy imperative.
asserted
it → make → ?
That one call guaranteed the future security of the republic.
asserted
call → guarantee → republic
Decades later, working through sheer grit and determination, Pakistan showed the world that it was more than capable of looking after itself.
asserted
it → work → itself
We stand at a very similar juncture today.
asserted
We → stand → juncture
The ongoing arms race in AI threatens to upend the global economic and security order, and the turning point is likely to arrive well before we will be prepared to confront it.
asserted
we → threaten → it
That is, unless we once again take control of our destiny and start shaping it with our own hands today.
asserted
we → take → hands
A large part of our annual $4.6bn in IT exports is freelancing work, call centres, and entry-level coding, which modern AI directly imperils.
asserted
AI → freelance → which
At the rate at which the technology is progressing, it will rapidly render many of those services and products either low-value or useless.
asserted
it → progress → services
There is also the question of what we, as an economy, must pay in terms of compute bills if our companies continue to license AI usage from foreign corporations.
asserted
companies → be → corporations
As dependence on AI grows, the bill could reach hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of the decade.
uncertain
bill → grow → decade
At most critical risk is our defence infrastructure, where drones, electronic warfare, and high-end sensors already run on AI technology, and are only going to grow more dependent on it to maintain their efficacy.
asserted
drones → run → efficacy
The national leadership must, therefore, make haste.
asserted
leadership → make → haste
In the 1970s, Pakistan was able to offer expat talent a compelling reason to return.
asserted
Pakistan → offer → reason
Similar arrangements need to be made once again.
asserted
arrangements → need → ?
Talented computer scientists and experts from around the world must be called home, given a deadline, generous budgets, and autonomy.
asserted
scientists → call → deadline
The systems and data centres can be placed close to where power is cheap and stable, while the research can take place where our universities are.
asserted
universities → place → place
A realistic target would be to host open-weight models at home, have researchers and technologists fine-tune them on Pakistani data and languages, run all government and defence needs within the country, and own the data pipelines as well.
asserted
researchers → host → pipelines
This would make Pakistan sovereign enough in AI without requiring a frontier-level lab or the 100-billion-dollar budgets that they need.
asserted
they → make → that
We can build on our ambitions once the basics are in place.
asserted
basics → build → place
The Chagai test took more than two decades; the clock on AI runs much faster than that.
asserted
clock → take → that
Pakistan cannot afford to delay this project.
asserted
Pakistan → afford → project
The Aporia
