KARACHI: Uks Research Centre launched a Feminist Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered platform, ‘Seen, Heard, Respected: AI for Inclusive Communication’, designed to help media professionals and content creators build more gender-inclusive communication at a local hotel here on Tuesday.
The Feminist AI is the result of nearly three decades of working on gender and media in Pakistan by Uks. While speaking on the occasion, the Uks’ director explained that they have developed this platform “to tackle the growing problem of the normalisation of misogyny in digital spaces, the lack of inclusive representation in media, and the absence of AI tools that understand our local languages and cultural context”.
The platform includes a bias detector and gender sensitivity. It can flag unfair, hurtful or abusive language and explain what to change and why. However, making the actual changes is left to the editor’s discretion. There are options such as rewriting it better, translating it carefully with accurate and respectful language without sensationalising and with sensitivity. And all the help you receive from it stays private to your own device and account.
“Though AI is often seen as problematic, it has many benefits also. In these times, one cannot really move forward without technology. We intend to take this platform to newsrooms to show journalists how to use it,” the Uks director shared.
“We are also grateful to the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) for supporting Phase 2 of the platform, which has made Urdu language support and other features possible for us. We are still in the process of developing the platform and are looking to complete Phase 2 by April 2027,” she added.
While getting into the details of the Feminist AI, Shahrezad Samiuddin of Uks said that it is a very practical digital platform, which uses Uks language from the Uks database of 30 years to respond to one’s needs. “It is a specific tool, like having an editorial assistant sitting beside you but it is not a general chatbot, which uses knowledge from the Internet,” she pointed out.
She also discussed the six main tools, each of which are designed for different needs such as the ‘Spot Check’, which flags biased, stereotyping or abusive words while offering better alternatives; ‘Deep Read’, which scores a whole piece for fair representation with a clear checklist; ‘Write it Better’, which rewrites text to be fair and inclusive; ‘Language Bridge’, which translates English to Urdu; ‘Ask Uks’, a chat helper; and ‘My Files’, which saves one’s results, privately on one’s own device.
All in all, Uks’ Feminist AI will help give fair space to women’s voices, treat people with dignity, protect survivor identity and avoid sensationalism, challenge stereotypes while giving a legal or rights context.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2026
