Pakistan is accelerating investment in digital skills at exactly the moment when artificial intelligence is changing what job readiness means.

On September 2, Pakistan’s latest digital-skills drive reported that the National Semiconductor HR Development Programme, or INSPIRE, targets 7,200 people, while other government-backed initiatives plan to train more than 25,000 youth in emerging technologies and another 100,000 students through an industry partnership. Those are substantial numbers. They measure reach.

They do not yet tell employers whether a graduate can use AI responsibly when the answer matters.

That distinction will grow more important as AI moves from an optional productivity tool into routine work. A trainee can learn how to prompt a chatbot, summarise a document, generate code, or create a presentation relatively quickly. The harder capability is knowing when the output deserves trust, when it requires checking, when sensitive information should stay out of a tool, and when a human needs to take over. Pakistan’s skills programs should therefore add a second kind of assessment alongside technical training: a practical test of judgment.

The government’s own National Youth Employment Policy points in this direction. At the first meeting of its National Coordination Committee on August 27, officials emphasised aligning young people’s skills with real market demand and high-growth sectors. That goal calls for a stronger signal than course completion. Employers need evidence that a candidate can perform under the conditions that increasingly define AI-enabled........

© Daily Times