THIS is with reference to the report ‘IT minister showcases digital transformation in Riyadh’ (Sept 2). There is something significant about Pakistan’s delegation of nearly 1,000 people at the Leading Edge Advancement and Progress (LEAP) 2026 event — widely known as the ‘Digital Davos’ — in Riyadh recently. Pakistan attended the global platform where technology, artificial intelligence (AI), startups, investment and digital trans-formation converge, under the banner ‘Think Tech, Think Pakistan’. The scale of participation was really encouraging.
As such, Pakistan’s information and communication technology (ICT) export earnings reached a record $4.6 billion in FY2025-26; an important achievement, but one that should be seen as a starting point rather than a destination.
The global technology market is growing and changing rapidly. AI is no longer a futuristic concept. It is already transforming how businesses operate, products are developed, students learn, governments deliver services and people find work. The question for Pakistan is, therefore, no longer whether we should embrace AI and digitalisation. The question is how quickly and, even more importantly, how intelligently we can adapt.
The international job market is changing too. The competition for Pakistani graduates and freelancers will increasingly be global. Our youth need to be prepared for an international marketplace where digital skills, AI, data analysis, cyber-security, cloud technologies, software development and digital entrepreneurship are becoming essential.
This does not mean every child needs to become a programmer. It means every child should understand technology well enough to work with it. We need to prepare our children before that future arrives.
This is where education becomes critical. The National AI Policy recognises the importance of AI education, specialised training and public awareness around responsible AI use. The government has also announced initiatives aimed at AI training and introducing AI-related curricula. Some private schools are already experimenting with coding, robotics, AI tools and digital learning. The challenge is to make this transformation broad enough so that it does not become an opportunity available only to students in elite schools and major cities.
There is, however, another side to digital transformation that deserves equal attention: security. The more dependent we become on digital systems, AI and connected services, the more vulnerable we can become to cyberattacks, fraud, identity theft, misinformation, deepfakes and misuse of personal data. Digitalisation without cybersecurity can create new vulnerabilities. Children need basic digital safety education alongside technology education.
At the same time, powerful technology spreading faster than public understanding can have serious consequences. AI can produce enormous benefits, but irres- ponsible use can also lead to fabricated information, plagiarism, privacy violations, discrimination and fraud. Pakistan needs clear rules for institutions, businesses and public bodies using AI, along with relevant safeguards.
If we want Pakistan to compete inter-nationally, we need talent that can compete internationally. If we want a digital economy, we need digital citizens. We need to move from policy to scale, from access to capability, and from consumption to creation. LEAP 2026 showed us what the next economy looks like. Pakistan does not have to wait for that economy to arrive. We need to start preparing our people for it now.
Nazakat Hussain
Islamabad
Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2026
