Syed Shujahat Ali
Yesterday, a friend working at a multinational logistics company told me that his employer had laid off its entire Figma team. Another friend, who worked in content writing with a team of 15, has abandoned the industry altogether. The reason, in both cases, is the same: artificial intelligence can now perform much of the work that once required entire teams.
These are not isolated stories. They are early warnings of a transformation that could reshape Pakistan’s employment landscape.
For years, Pakistan has celebrated its emergence as a major global freelancing hub. Government programs invested in digital skills, while platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork connected young Pakistanis to international clients. Initiatives such as DigiSkills, Ignite’s technology training programs, and provincial schemes like e-Rozgaar helped thousands enter the digital economy. DigiSkills alone has delivered millions of training sessions. The results have been significant. document the scale of this investment.
Freelancing offered an escape from an economy that struggled to create enough formal jobs. A young graduate could earn dollars from a bedroom in Lahore, a small town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or a village in southern Punjab. For many, it was more than a career choice. It was a path to financial independence.
Pakistan’s freelancers now generate substantial export earnings, while the wider information technology and IT-enabled services industry bring in billions of dollars annually. Beyond these figures are hundreds of thousands of workers in business process outsourcing, call centers, accounting, data entry, customer support, graphic design and content production.
But the very model that created these opportunities is now under pressure.
Artificial intelligence can write marketing copy, generate designs, analyze spreadsheets, answer customer queries and produce software. It does not eliminate every job in these fields, but it reduces the time, money and number of people needed to complete many tasks. Companies that once hired ten people may increasingly need three, supported by AI tools.
For Pakistan, this presents an uncomfortable question: what happens when the industries absorbing our educated but underemployed youth begin hiring fewer people?
The timing could hardly be worse.
The World Bank’s Reclaiming Momentum Towards Prosperity: Pakistan’s Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment, published in September 2025, warned that poverty had risen after years of progress. Its October 2026 Pakistan Poverty and Equity Brief reports that the national poverty rate increased from 22 per cent in 2018–19 to 29 per cent in 2024–25.
Pakistan must already contend with a rapidly growing young population, inadequate educational opportunities, brain drain, weak investment and regional inequality. Economic shocks and conflict have compounded these pressures. Now imagine AI eliminating a significant share of the jobs that have become a lifeline for educated young Pakistanis.
Where is our plan?
The answer cannot simply be to train more people in the same skills that AI is making cheaper. Nor can we expect every displaced copywriter to become a machine-learning engineer overnight. We need a practical transition built around three priorities.
First, move workers up the value chain. A graphic designer should learn AI-assisted visual direction, brand strategy and creative workflow management. A content writer should develop expertise in research, editorial judgement and industry-specific communication. Basic execution will become less valuable; the ability to solve problems, manage AI systems and deliver reliable results will become more valuable.
India offers a useful example. Its FutureSkills Prime initiative, developed by NASSCOM and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, promotes training in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity and data analytics. Pakistan should build a similar system that links training to actual employer demand, recognized certifications and job placement, not merely the number of certificates issued.
Second, create a domestic market for AI. Pakistan cannot rely indefinitely on foreign clients and freelance platforms. Federal and provincial governments should commission local technology firms to develop AI applications for taxation, agriculture, healthcare, education and public administration. Regional innovation hubs, equipped with computing resources, reliable internet and access to global payment systems, could help smaller firms compete internationally.
Estonia and the UAE offer lessons in integrating digital technology into public services. Pakistan should adapt what works to its own needs, building local capabilities rather than simply importing finished products.
Third, prepare workers for the new support industries emerging around AI. Models need data labelling, testing, evaluation, quality assurance and monitoring. Pakistani firms could specialize in Urdu and regional-language datasets, AI evaluation, computer vision and culturally informed model testing. Traditional call centers and BPO companies could transition towards more specialized services. These opportunities are not a permanent refuge from automation, but they offer a bridge to higher-value work.
None of this will happen through training programs alone. It requires investment, reliable electricity and internet, predictable regulation, access to capital, stronger universities and partnerships between government and industry. It also requires measuring success by sustainable jobs and rising productivity, rather than enrolment figures and announcements.
Pakistan cannot build an economy indefinitely around IMF programs, borrowing, exporting its skilled people and celebrating the remittances they send home.
AI is not the enemy. Being unprepared for it is.
The country that once saw freelancing as an answer to unemployment must now confront the possibility that yesterday’s solution will not work tomorrow. The choice is between preparing its workforce for a changing global economy and allowing that change to deepen existing economic insecurity.
Pakistan does not have another decade to waste.
Syed Shujahat Ali is a Fulbright Scholar and a Civil Servant
