The way we have created a virtual world in the form of social media, eCommerce, and mobile commerce; artificial intelligence is also taking place as an alternative to human intelligence. However, it is not to replace humans, but to assist them with a virtual mind programmed to simplify things around. It is a major breakthrough in the field of software development.
Statistica reports the global AI Software market share to be around $126 billion by 2025 as it is continuously growing. Its application includes machine learning, natural language processing, and robotic process automation. With its growing need and application, it has broadened the horizon of opportunities. Before exploring its scope in the global and Pakistan-specific digital space, let’s find what is AI first?
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence – AI – was once confined to a subject of Computer science, but has now engulfed the entire universe by simplifying things and imitating human-like activities. It is redefining the way professionals used to carry different tasks in IT, telecom, science, and innovation. It aims to solve non-numerical problems which are entirely human dependent. It is converting human resources into computers by equipping them.
To equip them with characteristics like a human. AI-powered machines are programmed to act, think, and react like humans. With machine learning, the technology advances to have human-like experiences to learn from a bad one and improve with a good one. AI is like teaching a computer to perform tasks that need the intellectual capabilities of humans. It can be used to perceive ideas and concepts, recognize speech, make decisions, translate a language, write essays or reports, produce codes and programming lines, and the list goes on.
What is the Scope of AI in Pakistan?
Artificial intelligence is going through multi-faceted growth around the world. However, we have been lagging in this field for many reasons. First things first, our software industry itself has not expanded to recruit raw talent and turn it into gold with this in-house practice, training, and professional development programs. The industry relies on academia, and academia is still teaching obsolete concepts and technologies in undergraduate courses. Learning new technologies, innovating software, and introducing groundbreaking applications in Pakistan can be a voluntary effort of an individual, a group, or a startup.
– Top Universities started AI Centers
Seeing the global upheaval, the top universities of Pakistan have also stepped into AI by launching knowledge centers. It started with the development of a national center of artificial intelligence. The universities followed the footsteps and provided the youth with the platform to learn and work in the AI field. Some of the worth mentioning centers are:
- UET Center of Intelligent Systems & Networks – Peshawar
- NUST National Center of AI – Islamabad
- UET AI Research Lab – Lahore
- The AI Lab at IBA – Karachi
These centers are contributing towards the development of the AI ecosystem in Pakistan. There are startups focusing on computer vision, game playing, language processing, robotics, voice recognition, expert systems, and lots of other concepts. It is a fast-growing industry in Pakistan and the youth have a lot to explore. Being a developing country, there are a great number of opportunities to unleash.
– AI is a blessing for Health Sector in Pakistan
AI has applications in almost every field. The one it improved a lot in Pakistan is the health sector. Having human-like capabilities, the highest accuracy, and no fatigue has made it an ideal technology for medical and health lines. Today, more hospitals are seeking assistance from AI powered robots in different medical procedures like diagnoses, prescription suggestions, and surgeries. Hospitals that are dedicated to diagnosing and curing life-threatening diseases like cancer are using AI technologies the most. Among various Pakistan based AI solutions for health care are Safety Connect, Patient First, Aurat Raaj, and Healthcare Matrix.
– AI Startups on other sectors of Pakistan
Farmdar – This AI application uses satellite technology to collect data about farmland for the ease of farmers and crop managers.
Orbit – It is an artificial reality-based application for schools to describe concepts in 3D visuals. It is assisting teachers to explain complex objects or concepts with 3D models.
MeraFuture – It is another educational application backed by AI for career counseling. It helps students to explore undergraduate programs, relate their expertise and interest, prepare for tests, and consult industry experts.
AdalFi – It is an AI platform in the microfinance niche to suffice the lending needs of consumers and small & medium size businesses.
Tax Dosti – Using AI, this application has made tax management easier for the people of Pakistan. It is also helping the Federal Board of Revenue in bringing more users to the tax net with simplified tax return filing.
TactonBiotic – The Company produces AI and VR enabled robots for remote surveys and inspections. With computer vision, VR, mobility, and object detection features, it can be used in disasters and warfare.
AI is flourishing fast in Pakistan. In addition to home-grown startups, multinational companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have also ensured their presence in Pakistan to hire experts in this field and the most out of the latest technology.
Top Trending AI Marketing Tools in Pakistan
Pakistan is home to a greater community of digital marketers, SEOs, and content writers who are offering their services to local and global clients. With the development of AI technologies, we are seeing its application in digital marketing as well. There is a multitude of tools a marketer can seek help to simplify a task, get it completed in seconds, and boost productivity. Following are some of the top trending applications in the digital marketing space.
Jasper – It is helping users to produce content for a variety of platforms, campaigns, and genres. Write a keyword or phrase; choose its tone and a few settings to get copywriting done for a blog, a web copy, a product description, or tag lines.
ChatGPT – It is a language processing tool powered by AI. It allows users to have a human-like chat, ask the bot to carry tasks and much more. It answers queries, helps in composing emails, blogs, or essays, or writes code. It does the way it is instructed. Ask it to summarize, reproduce, or rewrite a post or come up with ideas. In Pakistan, like the rest of the world, every marketing professional or team is so excited to have it in their tools box to expedite routine tasks. Is it seeking to redefine the way we used to spend hours on writing long emails, proposals, articles, or web content? However, it is still in the testing phase. Let’s find what it brings for the betterment of humanity in the near future.
Writer.com – it is an advancement of the conventional word processing system. Being powered by AI, it has modern features like auto-correction, auto-complete, and checkers for finding grammar and clarity issues.
FullStory – The marketing team has device digital experience using this tool as it tracks user behavior, and finds pain points to remove friction.
Zapier – Digital marketing may require the use of multiple tools. With Zapier, these can be connected to saving cost, time, and effort. Get all things done with one app.
Browse.ai – Need to keep an eye on your competitors? This tool is going to help you more in scraping websites for competitive advantage.
Influencity – finding and collaborating with influencers on social media is made simpler with Influencity. This app gives you seamless access to find influencers for your business, assess their helpfulness for your business, and get into contact.
Final words
Despite so much development in AI, Pakistan still has a long way to go to get global recognition in coding tools and gadgets powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality. As discussed in the post, we have successful startups that are easing the life of professionals in education, healthcare, and digital marketing. We should not stop here as there is a huge vacuum to fill.
We need to build solutions for the specific problems we have rather than relying solely on AI products that are built to address a generic or global cause. The artificial intelligence scope in Pakistan is bright and promising, therefore more computer science graduates shall consider getting hands-on experience in it.
