Pakistan ranks among top five global AI services providers

Pakistan is emerging as a major artificial intelligence (AI) services provider in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP) region, ranking among the top five global suppliers of services across more than 2,700 skill areas, according to the World Bank.

The country is increasingly positioning itself as a talent-led AI services exporter, supported by around 75,000 annual IT graduates and record ICT services exports of USD4.6 billion in fiscal year 2025-26.

Pakistan, alongside Egypt, ranks among the top five global suppliers of services on major online platforms across more than 2,700 skill areas, the World Bank said. Its integration into global online service markets presents opportunities for its workforce, but also exposes workers to changes in demand as AI begins replacing some outsourced tasks.

Pakistan is also emerging as one of the region’s major data-center hosts. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates lead MENAAP in data-center capacity, while Pakistan has one of the largest numbers of data centers in the region, the report said.

Beyond exporting digital services, Pakistan is pursuing what the World Bank describes as an ambition for “AI sovereignty” by developing a domestic ecosystem to deploy AI for national priorities.

A USD1 billion program through 2030 is planned to support shared GPU infrastructure, a sovereign multilingual AI model, 1,000 AI PhD scholarships and training for one million non-IT professionals.

Pakistan is among 14 of the 21 MENAAP economies that have published national AI strategy documents. Its strategy identifies agriculture as a major area for AI applications, including fertilizer and pesticide management, irrigation, yield estimation, trade decisions and food security.

The strategy also highlights risks such as gender bias, the digital gender divide, wage disparities, data privacy and regulatory gaps.

The country has also set a target of training 200,000 people annually in AI and providing 3,000 postgraduate scholarships, according to the World Bank.

“Pakistan illustrates the former pattern, performing strongly on digital infrastructure relative to its income peers but weakly on innovation and economic integration,” the World Bank said.

The report places Pakistan among middle-income MENAAP economies that combine growing technical capacity and national ambition with significant implementation gaps. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, meanwhile, rank among the world’s top 25 economies for both AI model development and high-performance computing.

Regulatory and institutional capacity remains the region’s biggest readiness gap, while weak private-sector dynamism is another constraint on AI adoption.

Only around 24% of firms in MENAAP economies invest in physical capital, compared with 37% in other emerging-market and developing economies outside the region. Just 19% provide formal training, compared with 30% among EMDEs outside MENAAP, the World Bank said.

The report said private-sector reform would be essential for an AI-led growth strategy.

For Pakistan, the shift toward AI carries both opportunities and risks given its large services workforce and dependence on international freelance and outsourcing markets.

Pakistan recorded the highest absolute number of AI-related conversations in MENAAP, although activity is concentrated in arts and media, particularly graphic design, content creation and translation, rather than software development. The World Bank said this may reflect the country’s strong presence on international freelance platforms where these services are in demand.

Demand for digital and AI skills has also risen sharply. Between 2021 and 2025, Pakistan was among MENAAP economies recording double-digit percentage-point increases in the share of job postings requiring digital skills.

The World Bank said the potential for AI to augment workers is greater than the immediate risk of automation across MENAAP. Around 0% to 10% of jobs face potential substitution by AI, with Pakistan and Afghanistan recording the lowest shares.

By comparison, 13% to 20% of jobs have potential for AI-driven augmentation, where technology complements rather than replaces workers.

Pakistan does, however, have relatively high AI exposure among tertiary-educated workers, with university graduates concentrated in cognitive occupations that are more vulnerable to AI disruption.

Women in Pakistan have lower overall exposure to AI because they are disproportionately employed in occupations that are comparatively protected, including craft and related trades, elementary occupations, and skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery work.

AI-exposed occupations are also concentrated in government and public enterprises, particularly clerical, ICT and professional roles.

Self-employed workers and employers also face relatively high AI exposure because of their concentration in clerical, professional, ICT, business administration and managerial occupations. Exposure is lower in craft, elementary and agricultural work.

The World Bank said AI is rapidly moving from a frontier technology into a general-purpose tool affecting businesses, workers, governments and individuals.

For Pakistan, the challenge will be to turn its large digitally oriented workforce, expanding data-center infrastructure and growing online services exports into broader economic gains while closing gaps in innovation, regulation and private-sector capacity.