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Paper short abstract

Pakistan’s AI policy reflects power asymmetries, tech dependency, and centralised control - shaped by geo-political influences that raises legitimacy and ethical concerns. The study urges context-sensitive and justice-oriented reforms for more inclusive AI development and governance.

Paper long abstract

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies rapidly transform organisations and society, global and national policy emerges to regulate AI development and governance frameworks. However, primarily, the global AI policy landscape remains dominated by Western Eurocentric perspectives that underlines the authoritarian role of Global North in agenda setting. While the Global North largely determines the strategic priorities that shape AI development and governance in the West, power asymmetries may directly/indirectly influence national AI policies in the Global South. It is noted that the majority of policy literature underrepresents Pakistan’s position as a Global South actor. Hence, the study critically analyses Pakistan’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy through a political economic lens. The policy, while framed around innovation and development, reflects deeper dynamics of geo-political influence, power asymmetry, and sovereignty vs technological dependency which shape national ambitions for digital transformation. Rooted in a centralised, top-down framework, the policy demonstrates limited inclusion of civil society, marginalised groups, or grass-root stakeholders, raising deeper concerns about democratic legitimacy, transparency and ethical regulation. By situating AI policymaking within broader global and domestic power relations, this paper underlines the need for a more context sensitive, and justice-oriented approach for inclusive AI innovation and regulation.