At the heart of Dr Malik’s argument lies a fundamental problem that has long plagued policymaking in Pakistan: fragmented, incomplete and poorly integrated data. The reference to the Pakistan Vulnerability Report which identifies 20 districts as highly exposed to climate risks, including 18 in Balochistan and two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa underlines the kind of evidence-based policymaking Pakistan urgently needs. Perhaps the most immediate benefit of AI lies in disaster risk management. However, Dr Malik’s caution against overreliance on artificial intelligence is equally important. Algorithms reflect the data they are trained on and in countries like Pakistan, data gaps, biases and inaccuracies remain a serious challenge.

Source: The Patriot February 11, 2026 23:11 UTC