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Zahanat AI, introduced as Pakistan’s first GPT model, is a private sector initiative, not a government project.
An official briefing was issued to clarify recent developments. The briefing addressed statements about the launch of Zahanat AI. The Minister for IT & Telecom had described it as Pakistan’s first GPT.
Later, the CEO of the National Information Technology Board (NITB) made different remarks. The clarification aimed to address the apparent contradiction.
According to the briefing, the Honourable Minister for IT & Telecom had commented on the launch of Zahanat AI. It is a Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) being developed by the private sector.
It was emphasized that this is not a project of the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication (MOITT) or the Government of Pakistan. However, MOITT continues to support innovation through emerging technologies and encourages private sector initiatives, acknowledging their role as key drivers of the tech industry.
In contrast, the CEO of NITB referred to an entirely separate initiative—a Large Language Model (LLM) project, which is a public sector effort under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NITB, NUST, and Jazz.
The public sector LLM project is part of the Ministry’s broader vision to harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) for national development. This indigenous LLM aims to leverage AI technology to promote innovation, efficiency, and transparency across multiple sectors in Pakistan.
TechJuice critically reviewed the demonstration, questioning the originality and technical depth of Zahanat AI’s capabilities. While the project positions itself as culturally tailored and groundbreaking, experts argued that it appeared to be a customized version of existing GPT models, lacking substantial innovation. This scrutiny emphasized the importance of evaluating AI projects on technical merit rather than promotional narratives.
Background of the Zahanat AI Project
Zahanat AI was introduced as Pakistan’s first GPT, claiming to process and understand Urdu and other local languages using advanced AI models. The project garnered attention following a soft launch and social media promotion, which led to public assumptions about its affiliation with the federal government.
