National AI Policy 2025: What Tech Companies Must Know

In July 2025, Pakistan’s federal cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, approved the National Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025, published by the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication (MoITT). The policy sets out how Pakistan plans to build AI skills, products and infrastructure, and how the private sector can take part.

Official targets in the policy

Annual targets set out by MoITT in the policy document:

200,000 people trained every year through the National AI Skill Development Program
3,000 postgraduate and doctoral AI scholarships every year
20,000 stipend-based internships every year through the National High-Tech Internship Program
10,000 trainers trained by 2027 (“Train the Trainer”)
AI Centres of Excellence in seven cities: Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, with auxiliary centres in Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad and Hyderabad

Targets reported at cabinet approval

State-run APP, as reported by Arab News and The Express Tribune, cited these targets when the cabinet approved the policy. The policy document’s own action matrix sets a 2027 timeline for training 1 million people in AI.

1 million trained AI professionals by 2030
1,000 local AI products within five years
50,000 AI-driven civic projects within five years
1,000 research projects

Six pillars

The policy document is organised around six pillars.

AI Innovation Ecosystem
Awareness and Readiness
Secure AI Ecosystem
Transformation and Evolution
AI Infrastructure
International Partnerships and Collaborations

Funding and oversight

The policy document allocates at least 30% of Ignite’s R&D Fund to a National AI Fund. Cabinet-approval reports also referred to an AI Innovation Fund and an AI Venture Fund to bring in private-sector investment. An AI Council and an action plan oversee implementation.

Where industry fits in

A regulatory sandbox will let enterprises test AI products under supervision, the policy funds at least 400 AI projects a year of up to PKR 1 million each, and the new funds are designed to draw in private-sector participation.