THE Balochistan government has announced that future government employment will be made possible through an AI-based recruitment system managed by a dedicated unit. This method, it claims, will be transparent and based on merit. There is a general consensus in society regarding the fact that public employment should be free from political pressures, opaque decision-making, and unnecessary delays. However, this step, despite the promise of strengthening meritocracy through technology, must be carried out with careful consideration.

We often witness initiatives in specific sectors, finance in particular, where technology filters in to replace manual and cash-based processes with digital payments, automated government systems, AI and data-driven tax administration, online public services, and a modern financial infrastructure. Their goal is to shape a more transparent and efficient form of governance. But the overall management of administrative nerve centres is largely conducted via paper files, handwritten approvals, and the physical movement of files from one office to another.

Administrative records remain fragmented, the workflow is slow, and routine processes almost entirely dependent on procedures designed decades ago.

Against this backdrop, AI-based recruitment appears as an isolated technological intervention — a digitised gateway to a largely unchanged, outdated and status quo-driven bureaucratic structure. Unfortunately, the pattern of isolated initiatives is particularly pronounced in public administration in underdeveloped countries. The pattern can easily be termed an ‘automation island’. While it can enhance individual........

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