Senate Committee Reviews AI Regulation Bill 2024 and Shows Concerns Over Language Model Project

The Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom, chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan, held an important meeting today to discuss the regulation of artificial intelligence in Pakistan and review ongoing technology projects under the Ministry of IT. The first item on the agenda was the AI Regulation Bill 2024, which the federal cabinet approved just a day earlier. The bill aims to regulate the growing use of artificial intelligence in Pakistan, ensuring it is implemented responsibly and ethically.

Secretary IT briefed the committee, stating that AI has revolutionised the world and Pakistan must adapt quickly. He highlighted that the government is working on an AI framework built on two major approaches — regulation and ethical implementation.

Senator Afnan Ullah supported the need for regulation but also warned that AI could lead to massive job losses if not handled carefully. “We must also consider the societal impact of AI,” he said. He emphasised the importance of accuracy in AI models, especially those used for decision-making.

Senate Committee Reviews AI Regulation Bill 2024 and Raises Concerns Over Language Model Project

Senator Kamran Murtaza expressed doubts over the current reliability of AI-generated content. “I come from a legal background. Whenever I tried to verify AI-generated responses related to law and justice, they were inaccurate,” he remarked. He stressed the need to fact-check AI outputs.

Senator Humayun Mohmand added that if Pakistan wants to move forward, AI must become a part of the system—but with proper checks and balances in place.

After the AI discussion, the committee turned its attention to the Ministry of IT’s project for building Pakistan’s first local language AI model. The project is being developed in collaboration with Jazz and NUST University.

The officials of Jazz, present during the meeting, stated that Pakistan’s biggest challenge is collecting data in local languages. They warned that many regional languages in Pakistan are dying out, and this model could help revive them. They added that they had engaged with several ministries to promote the value of this initiative.

Senator Dr. Mohammad Humayun Mohmand strongly questioned the basis for selecting these partners, noting that other institutions had been overlooked. The Secretary clarified that Jazz and NUST were not officially selected by the Ministry but had taken the initiative and are independently financing the project.

In response, Jazz issued a statement stating,

Discussions have recently emerged around the Large Language Model (LLM) initiative Jazz is developing in collaboration with NUST and the National Information Technology Board (NITB). This pioneering project, which is a private-sector-led effort with no public funds involved, aims to address one of Pakistan’s biggest gaps in the AI space—the absence of AIready data in local languages. We are currently in the foundational phase of data collection,
processing, and pre-training, and as we move into the next stages—fine-tuning, alignment, evaluation, and deployment—our plan has always been to bring in additional partners from across industries, academia, and research.

We chose to collaborate with NUST because our previous work together provided a strong foundation for what is a very novel project. Jazz brings the scale, technical expertise, and industry experience to lead an initiative of this magnitude, while NUST’s research excellence and academic depth made them a natural early partner. With NITB’s policy alignment role and oversight from a Joint Strategic Steering Committee, we have created a framework
that is transparent, accountable, and nationally relevant. As a member of the Planning Ministry’s AI Task Force, Jazz has also consistently invited other institutions and stakeholders to join this effort, and we look forward to expanding this collaboration to make it a truly national platform.

Check out the full response of Jazz by clicking Here

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In addition to these discussions, the Secretary IT also revealed that a new Emerging Technology Wing is being established under the Ministry to focus on modern tech like AI and chip design. He said the government received Rs. 16 billion in the current PSDP budget and is training 7,000 bachelor’s students to develop practical tech skills and reduce dependence on theoretical education.

The meeting concluded with a collective call for fairness, transparency, and thoughtful regulation as Pakistan moves deeper into the digital age.