Ambitious and timely though it is, Pakistan's National Artificial Intelligence Policy (2025) lacks comprehensible national data governance policy.

We speak of machine learning before ensuring that the machines have anything reliable to learn from. The NAI policy calls for shared data repositories, provincial AI hubs and algorithmic regulation, but it forgot to answers the fundamental questions, who owns the data? Who safeguards it? Who can share or monetise it? Without addressing these questions AI revolution will remain a dream.

AI systems learn from enormous datasets — on health, education, agriculture, trade or logistics. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, these datasets are either fragmented or trapped in red tape. The proposed National Data Repository lacks an operational blueprint. Moreover, public institutions still operate on paper-based records, while privacy frameworks remain nascent. The draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 has lingered for years without clear enforcement mechanisms, expose lack of interest in data governance.

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