Alibaba Cloud and Punjab officials discuss AI applications in healthcare, agriculture and climate forecasting, alongside plans for a potential data center in Pakistan.
LAHORE: Alibaba Cloud is in discussions with Pakistan over the possible establishment of a data center, as Punjab seeks to expand the use of artificial intelligence across healthcare, agriculture, education and climate forecasting.
Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz met a high-level delegation from Alibaba Cloud in Lahore on Sunday, where the Chinese technology company expressed interest in expanding cooperation with the provincial government.
According to an official handout, the discussions focused on applying AI in agriculture, healthcare, socio-economic programmes and climate forecasting. Provincial officials also briefed the delegation on AI initiatives already being implemented in areas including the Safe Cities Authority, education, healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure.
“We are pursuing a policy of adopting artificial intelligence and advanced technologies today rather than waiting for tomorrow,” the chief minister said, while welcoming greater Chinese cooperation in AI and information technology.
AI education from Grade 1
Maryam Nawaz said AI education has been made compulsory from Grade 1 in government schools across Punjab. She said the decision was influenced by observing AI education practices in schools in Beijing.
The move places AI education at the primary-school level, although details about teacher training and infrastructure required for provincewide implementation were not provided in the handout.
AI-powered disease scanner proposed
Healthcare emerged as one of the more specific areas of potential cooperation. The chief minister briefed the Alibaba Cloud delegation about Punjab’s plan to establish what has been described as the world’s largest public-sector cancer hospital.
Alibaba Cloud also proposed an AI-powered multi-disease scanner based on non-contrast CT technology. According to the information shared at the meeting, the system can screen for multiple diseases in about two minutes and assist healthcare professionals with detection, diagnosis and treatment planning.
Maryam Nawaz directed health authorities to prepare a pilot project for the technology. No location or timeline for the pilot was announced.
Alibaba Cloud Senior Vice President Li Jiapeng said AI is already being used in other settings for medical training and media campaigns and highlighted its potential role in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Potential data center remains under discussion
Li also confirmed that discussions are underway regarding the establishment of a data center in Pakistan. However, no location, investment amount, capacity or completion timeline was announced.
A local data center could potentially improve access and reduce latency for Pakistani users of Alibaba Cloud services while addressing data-residency considerations for government and enterprise customers.
The proposal remains at the discussion stage and does not yet represent a confirmed investment.
Li welcomed an earlier memorandum of understanding between Alibaba Cloud and Pakistan signed in the presence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and said the company was interested in expanding cooperation beyond Punjab.
Alibaba Cloud has already expanded its training presence in Pakistan. Earlier this year, it signed an MoU with the Alkhidmat Foundation to establish training centers in Karachi and Lahore, with AI and cloud-computing courses delivered through the Bano Qabil platform.
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