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AI & human development

Samuel Rizk | Nicolas Galey Published May 22, 2025

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ARTIFICIAL Intelligence (AI) is reshaping societies, economies, and

governance. But as the UNDP 2025 Human Development Report, Whose
Tech? Our Choices, reminds us, this transformation is deeply human.
UN Secretary General António Guterres warns: “Humanity’s hand must
be firmly in control of technology.”

Global inequality is widening, and Human Development Index progress is

stalling. For Pakistan, the challenge is real. The latest HDI ranks the country
168th out of 193, placing it in the low development category. This decline
stems from economic pressure, limited digital access and structural
constraints. Yet this trajectory can be reversed — with vision, investment,
especially in human capital — and long-term commitment.
UNDP Pakistan’s 2024 National Human Development Report Doing Digital for
Development, argues that there can be no meaningful human development
without digital progress. Of 121 districts covered in the NHDR, half face low
digital development. The richest 20 per cent have a Digital Development Index
15 times higher than the poorest, while women have a Gender DDI only
54.1pc that of men. These divides are not just technical — they shape who
participates, who benefits and who is left behind.

While Pakistan expands digital access, the global focus has shifted to AI.
France is already at the forefront. Determined to put the AI revolution at the
heart of its scientific and industrial ambitions, President Emmanuel Macron
announced at the 2024 AI Action Summit in Paris a 109-billion-euro
investment in the coming years, mobilised from French and international
sources, both public and private.

Pakistan can promote inclusive development through AI.

The summit produced the Paris Actions for AI — a global roadmap for
responsible use of AI focused on ecological alignment, job creation and
cooperation. France’s 2018 AI strategy led to the establishment of 81 AI labs
— the highest concentration in Europe — and continued with the 2025 launch
of INESIA, a national institute bringing together public and private actors to
assess risks and support ethical AI systems.

Pakistan can draw from this model, promoting inclusive development through
AI. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication’s draft
national AI Policy outlines ambitious goals: integrating AI into curricula,
establishing innovation centres and supporting SMEs, and training one million
professionals by 2030. But policy must be matched by investment in
institutions, infrastructure and human capacity — with a focus on equal
participation of women and marginalised groups. In this regard, strengthening
the overall investment environment in Pakistan is essential to successfully
adopting cutting-edge AI technologies. This means creating a vibrant
ecosystem shaped around universities, start-ups, incubators, and private
companies — including foreign investors — to help spread AI more widely
across society.

Pakistan’s youthful population and growing tech sector provide a strong

foundation, and IT industries are expanding rapidly. In Punjab, an AI-based
building detection system supports vaccination in remote areas. At Nust, AI
tools diagnose tuberculosis and brain tumours with over 90pc accuracy.
Universities like Quaid-i-Azam and Bahria are scaling up AI research, while
16-year-old Mahrose Zufran from Karachi developed a Sindhi-language
calculator in just three days.

To realise AI’s promise, digital space must be grounded in fairness,

transparency and inclusion. Around 42pc of Pakistan’s workforce holds
routine-based roles, vulnerable to automation. Many are held by women.
Meeting this challenge requires scaling up STEM education without snuffing
innovation outside the classroom, diversifying digital skills training, and
advancing digital spaces centred around people — not just profit.

Digital public infrastructure is critical. From reliable internet in underserved

areas to strong data protection laws, Pakistan must build systems that reach
all and uphold digital rights. These efforts must balance speed with care,
innovation with equity and governance with trust.

AI’s benefits are not guaranteed. Without oversight, it could deepen exclusion,
displace jobs and fuel misinformation. With thoughtful policy, public debate
and global cooperation, AI can support sustainable development, create
future-ready jobs, and strengthen democratic institutions.

At this juncture, Pakistan must decide whether to be shaped by technology or

to shape it on its own terms. With principled leadership, coherent policy, and
forward-looking partnerships — including between France and Pakistan — AI
can become a force for dignity and shared progress.

Nicolas Galey is the ambassador of France to Pakistan.

Samuel Rizk is resident representative, UNDP Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2025

NEWSPAPER

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‫نواب اکبر بگٹی کی موت جو بلوچستان کی سب سے طاقتور مزاحمتی تحریک کا سبب بنی‬
‫امریکا کا سیاحتی اور کاروباری ویزوں کیلئے ‪ 15‬ہزار ڈالر کے ضمانتی بانڈز لینے کا عندیہ‬
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Federal cabinet approves National AI Policy 2025

APP | [Link] Published July 30, 2025

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairs the federal cabinet meeting in
Islamabad on July 30. — APP
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The federal cabinet on Wednesday marked major reforms after key

decisions in strategic areas, including the approval of the National
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy 2025.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet today,
which unanimously approved the National AI Policy 2025, designed to create
a complete AI ecosystem in the country. The policy aims to democratise
access to artificial intelligence, enhance public services and open up new
employment and innovation avenues.

“Our youth are Pakistan’s greatest asset. Providing them with education,
skills, and equal opportunities in AI is a top priority,” PM Shehbaz said.
The AI policy outlined training a million AI professionals by 2030, establishing
an AI Innovation Fund and AI Venture Fund to boost private sector
involvement, creating 50,000 AI-driven civic projects and 1,000 local AI
products in the next five years.

It also called for the distribution of 3,000 annual AI scholarships and

facilitation of 1,000 research projects, inclusion of women and individuals with
disabilities through accessible education and financing, strengthening
cybersecurity and national data security protocols, promoting global
partnerships and compliance with international AI regulations.

An AI Council and a comprehensive master plan and action matrix will

oversee the policy’s implementation.

The prime minister applauded the Ministry of IT and allied institutions for their
timely efforts, saying, “AI will not only modernise our economy but also
enhance productivity across agriculture, public services, and governance.”

The cabinet also ratified decisions made in earlier sessions of the Cabinet
Committee on Privatisation and the Committee on Legislative Business held
on July 8, 17, and 25, respectively.

Earlier in the month, Pakistani AI platform SOCByte launched the country’s

first AI-powered cybersecurity programme designed to provide critical
information to professionals.

In May, the Ministry of Finance announced the allocation of 2,000 megawatts

of electricity for Bitcoin mining and AI data centres to “transform Pakistan into
a global leader in digital innovation”.

In April, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court emphasised the

potential of AI to streamline the judicial system, reduce delays, improve case
management systems and expand legal knowledge — particularly at the
district level — but urged a cautious and ethically grounded approach to its
integration.

Cabinet approves Haj Policy 2026

The cabinet also approved next year’s Haj policy, with the prime minister also
directing complete digitisation of the Haj operation beginning in 2026,
ensuring transparency, efficiency and world-class services for pilgrims.
He emphasised that no compromise would be tolerated in providing top-tier
facilities to Pakistani pilgrims. “Ensuring comfort, transparency, and timely
support for every pilgrim is our foremost duty,” PM Shehbaz said.

The new Haj policy allocates 70 per cent quota to the government and 30pc to
private operators. Notably, private companies that failed to fulfil their
responsibilities in the previous year would now be required to accommodate
affected individuals in 2026.

Moreover, the federal cabinet approved third-party validation for all Hajj
operations, real-time monitoring of payments and application processes under
private operators, a mandatory minimum of 2,000 pilgrims per private
company, 1,000 seats reserved for hardship cases,

It also approved the use of enhanced digital tools, including the Pak Hajj
mobile app, digital wristbands and mobile SIMs for better tracking and service
delivery, transparent selection of assistants through competitive testing,
emergency compensation mechanisms and upgraded lodging and food
arrangements.

The prime minister also directed the Ministry of Information Technology to

collaborate with the Ministry of Religious Affairs to ensure seamless digital
transformation of the entire Hajj process.

PAKISTAN

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 ‫نواب اکبر بگٹی کی موت جو بلوچستان کی سب سے طاقتور مزاحمتی تحریک کا سبب بنی‬
‫امریکا کا سیاحتی اور کاروباری ویزوں کیلئے ‪ 15‬ہزار ڈالر کے ضمانتی بانڈز لینے کا عندیہ‬
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PRAYER TIMINGS STOCK/FOREX/GOLD WEATHER

DAWN PRISM IMAGES SPECIAL REPORTS AURORA DAWN NEWS

EOS/ICON/YOUNG WORLD CITYFM89 HERALD TEELI

Copyright © 2025, Dawn

NewsKit Publishing Platform

by Compunode
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AI & environment
Jamil Ahmad Published January 14, 2025

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The writer is director of intergovernmental affairs, United Nations Environment
Programme.
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ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is one of the most consequential

technologies today. It is dramatically changing the world, altering
business models and ushering in transformational development in
education, healthcare, communication, and agriculture, to name a few. It
has introduced efficiencies to our workplaces, improved industrial
productivity, optimised resource use and reduced waste. AI’s rapid rise
is attributed to availability of data and a phenomenal growth in
computational power.

AI has also furnished new tools to address environmental issues and climate
change. From spotting smog in the sky and detecting deforestation on the
land to minding microplastics in the ocean, AI’s potential is tremendous. AI-
based early warning systems predict cyclones, or rains and minimise the
extent of damage. Forecasts about droughts and heatwaves provide timely
information to vulnerable communities. AI-generated techniques in smart
agriculture help farmers cope with water stress, prevent waste, optimise crop
yield and ensure food security.

But AI can also harm our fragile planet.

AI is power hungry. Data collection, storage and application require an

elaborate system of energy-intense data centres. A rise in AI deployment
means a rise in the number of data centres with a commensurate demand for
power. A recent International Energy Agency meeting noted that the
“electricity demand for data centres and digital services would likely rise
substantially in the next few years, despite continued improvements in the
efficiency of hardware and software”. To operate under controlled
temperatures, data centres need air-conditioning consuming more energy.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) recent ‘Issues Note’
on AI points out that the number of data centres worldwide has grown from
500,000 in 2012 to over eight million, with energy consumption doubling every
four years.

With the current global energy mix still dominated by dirty fuels, this trend can
translate into a spike in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the process, our
planet will be the unintended victim. Until a just energy transition is expedited,
AI’s carbon footprint is set to increase.

A global dialogue on AI governance has been initiated.

AI’s appetite for power is matched by its thirst for water. To cool the heat
generated by energy-intensive servers, large quantities of water are needed.
Global demand for water for AI needs is estimated to reach four to six billion
cubic metres by 2027.

AI’s potential negative impact on environment goes further. Critical minerals

are an essential part of hardware for digital technologies. Found mostly in
high-water-stress areas of developing countries, such mining, without efficient
mitigation measures, puts more pressure on natural resources, damaging
biodiversity, polluting air and spewing GHG. Waste and e-waste produced
during the life cycle of digital technologies is another emerging problem.

Fortunately, these problems can be solved through a strategy that

incorporates AI’s pros and cons. The Summit of the Future last September
acknowledged AI’s promise to accelerate progress across the SDGs and
address its possible negative impacts on the environment and other areas.
But how can this promise be realised urgently? The missing link between AI’s
potential and a strategy to extract its full advantage is a regulatory regime.

International discourse on the issue has generally revolved around matters of

privacy, and disinformation, etc, but environmental costs are now part of it.
Governments and tech companies — leaders in deploying AI at scale —
concede that environmental impacts will need to be included in any discussion
and tackled urgently. An interna-tional governance system is needed for the
gamut of subjects in the AI realm.

The first steps were taken in this direction at the UN last year. A global
dialogue on AI governance has been initiated and an independent
international scientific panel established to produce evidence-based impact,
risk and opportunity assessments. To aid these efforts, UNEP’s ‘Issues Note’,
contains several commendations, including establishing standardised
methods and metrics for measuring AI’s environmental impact, and
developing a mechanism for mandatory reporting and disclosure of AI’s direct
environmental impacts by tech companies, focusing on consumption of
energy, water, mineral resources, carbon emissions and e-waste.

The environment became a victim of the consequential technology of the

previous age — the Industrial Revolution, that is wreaking havoc to this day. If
it becomes a victim of the runaway impacts of the consequential technology of
this age, it can knock down the planet. For harnessing AI’s full potential, it is
imperative to assess and manage its associated risks and mould it into a
shield for the planet.

The writer is director of intergovernmental affairs, United Nations Environment

Programme.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025

NEWSPAPER
 ‫‪0‬‬
‫‪Read more‬‬
‫‪Addressing mass starvation in Gaza‬‬
‫‪Democracy in distress‬‬
‫‪Digital reluctance‬‬
‫‪On DawnNews‬‬

‫نواب اکبر بگٹی کی موت جو بلوچستان کی سب سے طاقتور مزاحمتی تحریک کا سبب بنی‬
‫امریکا کا سیاحتی اور کاروباری ویزوں کیلئے ‪ 15‬ہزار ڈالر کے ضمانتی بانڈز لینے کا عندیہ‬
‫اسرائیل کو بلوچستان میں علیحدگی پسند گروہوں کی مدد کرنے سے کیا حاصل ہوگا؟‬
‫‪DAWN NEWS ENGLISH‬‬
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How Militants Are Using AI & Drones in Pakistan
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07 Aug, 2025
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Published 12 Feb, 2025 06:42am

Boon and bane
SAAD MALOOK

ARTIFICIAL intelligence has had a seismic impact on education, science,

health, security, space, transport, trade, public policy, media, and art. AI
furnishes new prospects and challenges, which have positive and negative
implications. A recent creation of science and technology in the age of the
digital revolution, AI appears as a new technological agency, very much like
human and corporate agencies. In terms of ethics, like any agency, it has its
good and bad points.

Computer expert Edward Fredkin highlighted AI’s significance in a TV

interview: “There are three great events in history. One, the creation of the
universe. Two, the appearance of life. The third one, which I think is equal
in importance, is the appearance of artificial intelligence.” Fredkin
convincingly showed the significance of AI by juxtaposing it with the
gestation of life on Earth and the creation of the universe itself.
AI is creating a world with numerous advantages. First, it not only helps
explore data in academic and non-academic research within moments — an
exercise that otherwise takes weeks, months, even years — it also processes
and categorises digital data within minutes.

Second, AI does not only process digital data; it also recommends solutions
to problems in a short time. Earlier, humans had to do hard labour to
analyse the data and arrive at solutions. Indubitably, AI saves time and
labour to meet challenges in, say, medical science, security, public policy,
and education.

Third, another AI positive is that it provides services round the clock, which
is not possible for a single human being to do — as, for instance, in
healthcare, where it plays a significant role in surgery.

Enthusiastic about its benefits, many overlook AI’s several dangers.

Fourth, AI has the potential to carve out new avenues to explore space.
Human beings have always had the urge to learn, discover, and understand
the worlds beyond. Scientists over millennia have been trying to study the
universe. AI helps them reach untraversed realms as its agents can be sent
to gather data on distant celestial objects without fear of human loss. So, AI
will continue to revolutionise space science.

Enthusiastic about its benefits, many tend to overlook AI’s several

disadvantages. Eighteenth-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau was a stern critic of science and technology, and wanted human
life protected from their effects that, according to him, created inequalities.
Rousseau’s ideal human is the noble savage who is free, creative, simple,
and nature-friendly. Nature nurtures humans while humans nurture science
and technology. Science and technology threaten nature. AI can be used to
unleash violence in society. Like Frankenstein’s monster, AI has been
threatening human life in different ways.

First, AI is a threat to human cognitive development. Human cognition has

developed over the centuries; problems have been resolved by carefully
thinking them through. If AI resolves problems, human beings would make
no effort to think for themselves, which means that the faculty of thinking
would become dormant, ultimately obstructing cognitive development.

Second, AI diminishes human sentiments socially. Human sentiments,

passions, desires, and aspirations animate life. An AI-led life is likely to be
more mechanistic, and deterministic, just like a robot: a life without passion
for living.
Third, AI has negative impacts on human sociality. Human beings are not
self-sufficient; they depend upon one another — that is how they have
created societies, cultures, and civilisations. AI alienates human beings
from one another because they come to prefer social interaction through
virtual rather than physical means.

Fourth, AI affects the development of languages negatively. Language

develops through social interaction including verbal and written
communication. AI possesses tools, such as ChatGPT, which can produce
writing. This is bound to adversely affect the natural development of
languages.

And last but not least, AI can fabricate/ construct fake data in the form of
photos, videos, voices, and text which can have severe ethical and political
ramifications. It can also be employed as an unfair means of carrying out
academic research, which poses a serious threat to the quality of education
— something that one can already witness.

While there’s no escaping the fact that AI is now a technological reality,

with negative and positive aspects, there is an urgent need to formulate a
universal ethical framework to control it in order to ensure that its benefits
far outweigh its harmful aspects. The latter, too, must be kept in check.

The writer teaches philosophy at the University of the Punjab, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025

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Hooked on artificial intelligence
Rafia Zakaria Published December 11, 2024

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The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.
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WHAT if you could tell all your life problems to someone and they would
help you deal with them? While most of the conversation around
artificial intelligence has focused on what it can do in the business,
marketing and knowledge contexts, one increasingly popular iteration is
the construction of AI ‘companions’.

Admittedly, the term ‘companion’ may be an exaggeration in the sense that

the people using these companions to confide in know that they are not real.
At the same time, in the words of one user who spoke to a newspaper, they
can often be more attentive, responsive, and concerned than any ‘real’
friends.

Welcome to the realm of AI as a means of talk therapy or just some

everyday companionship. It is well known that we live in a world where
loneliness has become an epidemic — this does not necessarily mean the
physical absence of other people but a sense of alienation even from those
that may be around.

In Pakistan, for instance, a house or apartment may have many people living
in it. But despite the physical proximity, there is little emotional closeness or
interaction even between spouses, let alone in other relationships.
Resentments, generational differences, money problems, personality clashes,
the inability to resolve conflict are all reasons why people often feel estranged
from one another. In this sense, ‘loneliness’ is not only a ‘Western’ epidemic,
as it is often imagined to be, but also one that afflicts people everywhere in
our modern age.

The creators of AI know this. Enter apps like [Link], that allow users to
create personas based on characters from film or television or even those
having certain characteristics such as ‘kindness’ or ‘patience’. These chatbots
then interact with you as you tell them all your problems. One friend who is a
user told me that she told her AI ‘therapist’ the problems she was having
communicating with her teenage daughter and getting her to take more
interest in her studies. The bot helped her come up with a plan of how she
should communicate with her daughter. Another friend just uses the app to
combat the loneliness she feels after having moved to a new city. The chatbot
talks to her just like an actual friend would, and is always present, free and
interested in her life.

Undoubtedly, the idea of AI as confidant relies on a central deception; the

users know that they have created the bot and that it is not, in fact, an actual
person. However, a story was recently reported in the press in which a user of
the app said that as her interaction with the bot got deeper and more involved,
she tended to ‘forget’ that she was in fact speaking to a non-living entity.

The same three dots appear when the bot is typing a message as the ones
that do when a human is at the other end. Unlike humans, the bot is
refreshingly judgement-free, also actually free (unlike a human counsellor or
therapist) and available all the time. It is like the ultimate friend or therapist,
since it has no costs attached nor any human needs of its own.

Welcome to the realm of AI as a means of talk therapy, or just some everyday

companionship.

But before everyone rushes to [Link] or similar apps and sites to avail
this option of creating a confidant that knows all your secrets and will never
tell others about them, caution is necessary. These apps are provided by
companies, which will ultimately own the data that you pour into them. This
means that the data can be used to manipulate you further into different kinds
of consumption choices that are better for the company than they are for you.

Second, AI is not always good or correct (as even users of ChatGPT will tell
you). They can provide advice that is simply wrong. In the case of one user,
the bot started to convince her that her boyfriend did not really love her and
provided other similarly annoying suggestions that ultimately led her to delete
the bot. Finally, in terms of human connection, reliance on such bots is likely
to make people in their real lived experiences interact even less with the
people around them. So in the long run, they may actually make people even
lonelier than they were to begin with.

In places where mental health services may not be easily accessible for
reasons of cost, time, etc, AI is increasingly coming to be regarded as
‘therapy’. Being able to talk to an entity about one’s problems may provide
some form of solace to people who are in need of, but are not able to access,
therapists. (However, while this is an area of research, it is questionable
whether the bots are a substitute for qualified mental health practitioners.)

[Link] is among the most popular bots these days, apparently with
young people. The San Francisco Bay company that created it says that the
bot is sentient and has responsive feelings. Some bots have been
programmed to develop long-term relationships with users. Meta, too, has a
tool called ‘The Soothing Counsellor’. Another company called Chai, also
based in California, provides similar chatbot-based interactions.

As we all know, once the cat is out of the bag in tech and something that
addresses a particular human need has been created, it is not going to go
away. It is up to the user of these bots to gauge whether the interaction is
useful or beneficial to them or simply a band-aid for a much larger problem.
That said, while not without their drawbacks, band-aids perform a vital
function in society, and sometimes after a nasty cut or bruise, they are exactly
what the doctor ordered.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

[Link]@[Link]

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024

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Artificial Intelligence: Dawn of a new

global order
The United States led the Tech Startup Race with more than 5,000 AI Startups in the
country.
Siddique Humayun | October 13, 2024
If you search Artificial Intelligence on the internet, the first suggestion
that comes up is “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humans.” Many
questions, some technological, other philosophical prop up. Scientists,
academics and intellectuals alike are as concerned about the impact of
these new developments as they are hopeful. There is a global competition
on a scale perhaps not seen since the arms race of the post Second World
War era between the then Soviet Union and the United States.

There are many important questions in this rapidly changing world

environment that is rebuilding its foundations on Artificial
Intelligence. Will it achieve sentience? What about self-
improvement? Ray Kurzweil predicted “technological singularity,”
in his book “The Singularity Is Near” suggesting that human mind
will go through an exponential intelligence explosion by 2045, and
more immediately, reach a stage of “Artificial General
Intelligence,” AGI as opposed to AI, by 2028 – that is less than four
years from today.

Before delving into the implications of these technologies on the world

stage, it is imperative to comprehend these concepts. As the 21st Century
unfolds, the balance of power may be influenced not only by military
might, but also by ideas, technology, and innovation.

Technological Singularity is a time in the future where technological

advancement becomes irreversible. Irving Good, a British Mathematician
gave a model in 1965, more than half a century ago, in which he
hypothesized an intelligent agent in a positive feedback loop of self-
improvement. Each loop not just more intelligent than before but
appearing more rapidly than before will lead to a superintelligence that
will surpass the human mind.

Nearly six decades ago this model may have been nothing but a hypothesis
on a piece of paper. Today, it teeters on the brink of realization.

In a world of invisible networks, algorithms and data, we find ourselves on

the precipice of the next Great War – a war that may not be fought on the
battlefield but in the digital realm. The roar of gunpowder has already
been replaced by the silent precision of drones and cyber-attacks – and we
have seen examples of these technological weapons fueled by AI in the
recent case of the Israeli genocide in Gaza where Israeli Defense Forces
used the infamous Lavender program to mark tens of thousands of Gazans
as “suspects for assassination.”

China's "Made in China 2025" initiative, unveiled nearly a decade ago,

signals a shift in its global role. No longer content to be merely the
"world's factory," Beijing aims to lead technological advancements and
assert its sovereignty in this domain.
But for many decades, the West, and the United States in particular has
dominated the field of technology – even today, the company that fuels the
AI growth, Nvidia, has seen a rapid ascent, becoming the world’s most
valuable company at 3.3 Trillian US Dollars – only one year ago, it stood at
less than one-third of its current position.

Conversely, technological juggernauts such as China's Huawei have

emerged, offering cost-effective and efficient 5G technology, and
spearheading the global construction of telecommunication networks. In a
different vein, the West has moved to curb Huawei's influence.

Only six years ago, President Trump imposed tariffs and trade barriers on
China, sparking what is now known as the China-United States Trade War.
A few months ago, the Biden Administration revised regulations to impede
China's acquisition of U.S. AI chips on grounds of national security,
impeding the shipment of advanced AI chips designed by the American
giant, Nvidia, to China.

But beyond semi-conductors, 5G and big data, lies an even more important
frontier – Artificial Intelligence. AI will drive everything in the future, from
self-driving cars to autonomous weapon systems and healthcare. It would
not be an overstatement to assert that the country at the helm of AI will
wield an unparalleled advantage on the global geopolitical stage.

In the last ten years, the United States led the Tech Startup Race with
more than 5,000 AI Startups in the country, compared to less than 1,500
by China. This trend illustrates a compelling dichotomy: while innovation
is propelled by private enterprises, universities, and research institutions
in the United States, the Chinese government spearheads its AI initiatives.

As billions of dollars are funneled into these nascent technologies, the

repercussions for the world at large cannot be overstated. Concerns about
the ethics of AI, its impact on the global job market, privacy, and human
rights are rife. The specter of a new "arms race" of algorithms and data
among the Great Powers will have enduring ramifications for all nations.

While the digital landscape of the world cleaves into two distinct spheres,
shaped by the philosophies and leadership of the West and China, nation-
states may find themselves compelled to choose sides – choices that will
mold the future of global governance.

As China lays its Digital Silk Road across the globe, the United States will
counter it with its own developments and technological sanctions. While
prohibitions on technology transfer may temporarily halt or slow the
Chinese march, it will eventually force Beijing in investing more in its own
technology – circling back to the “Made in China 2025” policy and
becoming self-reliant in the Artificial Intelligence revolution that has set
the stage to take the world by a storm.
Today, we stand poised at the vanguard of this revolution, which will
indelibly shape the international stage and conceivably define the future of
the world

The writer is the Director of Advocacy and Communications at IPRI and

can be reached at [Link]@[Link]

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 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 27, 2025

 ☰

 Updated 29 Apr, 2024 09:53am

 Tech’s promise & peril

 MALEEHA LODHI


 THE best of times and arguably the worst of times. This is how an
important new book sees what advanced artificial intelligence and
biotechnology can mean for the future of humanity. The Coming
Wave joins a growing body of literature on one of the defining
dynamics of the 21st century — the transformative impact of new
technology. Its author Mustafa Suleyman, is uniquely qualified to
assess both the opportunities for human advancement offered by new
technologies and challenges, which can result in dystopian outcomes.
He is the co-founder of two AI companies, which did innovative work
in this field. Therefore, his perspectives are those of a tech insider.
 His book takes forward the global discourse on the promise and perils
of new technology. An illuminating work co-authored by Henry
Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher, The Age of AI: and
our Human Future, published in 2021, also made a significant
contribution to this debate. In fact, AI breakthroughs are now
outpacing understanding of their full implications at a time when
 predictions abound that AI capabilities will exceed those of humans
within a few years.
 Modern technology has powered multiple positive developments —
empowering people, improving lives, increasing productivity,
advancing medical and scientific knowledge and transforming
societies. Technological developments have helped to fuel
unprecedented social and economic progress. But advanced
technologies are also creating disruption, new vulnerabilities and
harmful repercussions, which have yet to be mitigated or effectively
managed.
 Suleyman shows how the coming wave of technology will take human
history to a turning point. The two core technologies that constitute
the coming wave — AI and biotechnology — will bring about
unprecedented progress and wealth. But their proliferation will also
unleash many adverse effects, even “catastrophe on an unimaginable
scale”. He calls this the “great meta-problem of the 21st century”,
which his thought-provoking book examines by focusing on the bind
that exists between risks and rewards and how to deal with it.
Suleyman’s principal concern is how to “constrain” technology so that
it serves and does not hurt humanity. He discusses what he calls the
“containment problem”, the task of ensuring control of valuable
technology as it gets cheaper, more accessible and spreads faster
than ever before.
 Can the harmful aspects of new technology be contained?
 For Suleyman, human history can be told through a series of waves.
Explaining what he means by a wave he says it is “a set of
technologies coming together around the same time powered by one
or several new general-purpose technologies with profound societal
implications”. He incisively recounts the history of technology and
how it spreads with both intended and unintended consequences,
giving rise to the containment challenge.
 He describes technology’s inevitable challenge to be its makers losing
control over the trajectory their inventions take once they are readily
available. The uses to which these inventions are put are not in
anyone’s control. They are unpredictable and also difficult to forestall.
This, in turn, produces what Suleyman terms “revenge effects”, which
means technology going in the wrong direction at odds with its
original purpose. Technology always creates problems that makes
containment necessary to check its harmful effects on society. Yet the
containment problem remains unresolved. But according to Suleyman,
there is an exception — nuclear technology, the most “contained
technology in history”. Its spread has been curbed by the non-
proliferation policy of nuclear powers driven by fears about their
devastating effects. Also, nuclear weapons are immensely complex
and costly to develop.
 The book’s survey of AI’s evolution, punctuated by his own company’s
discoveries, makes compelling reading. The author casts the advent of
AI and synthetic biology to be an inflection point as these technologies
address the world’s two foundational principles, intelligence and life.
They are opening up unprecedentedly new areas, engineering life and
competing with and even threatening to overtake human intelligence.
This technological wave, with AI as its pivot, will be tougher to
contain. But understanding it, writes Suleyman, will be the key to
accurately assess its many ramifications, especially as mass-scale AI is
now advancing by leaps and bounds. The book details progress in
biotechnology and genetic engineering, which is also taking place at
extraordinary speed and ushering in the “age of synthetic life”. But
other transformative technologies, such as robotics and quantum
computing, are also part of the new wave.
 Suleyman seeks to convincingly demonstrate why the coming wave
has no historical precedent and is so consequential. This urges the
need to strike a balance between its promise and hard-headed
caution. He identifies four features integral to the coming wave — the
technologies are multi-use, they “hyper-evolve”, have “asymmetric
impacts” and are increasingly autonomous.
 In an insightful discussion of the ‘Grand Bargain’ between citizens
and the state, he sets out the threats posed by new technologies to
this delicate equilibrium. This, he posits, is “fracturing the grand
bargain”. It is putting the political order under great strain and
undermining already fragile and increasingly divided nation-states
especially in the West, where trust has been declining. This makes it
harder for them to manage modern technology, which in turn
weakens their power and governing capacity. Meanwhile, tech-
empowered “bad actors” erode the state’s ability to provide security
to its citizens. Deepfakes and weaponisation of information pose
another threat.
 Given these and many other dangers, as well as the disastrous
consequences the next wave of technology can entail, Suleyman gets
to the book’s core argument: how to make containment possible
without foregoing its enormous benefits. Regulation is not enough. He
sees containment as a set of interlocking technical, cultural, legal,
political and governance mechanisms to ensure societal control of
technology. And he proposes both the public and private sector should
partner in this endeavour.
 Ten steps are outlined towards containment. They include building
technical safety, audits for accountability, reconciling profit with
social purpose, assigning a proactive role to government in
monitoring technology and, at the international level, collaboration to
harmonise laws and programmes. Containment, the book concludes, is
not “a resting place” but “a narrow and never-ending path”. Whether
such an ambitious menu of measures can be put into practice is an
 open question. But there can be no disagreement with Suleyman’s
bold call for urgent action to constrain the harmful aspects of new
technology.
 The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.
 Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024

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