Pakistan Announces Buraq, an Urdu AI Model That Keeps Data in the Country
Pakistan is building its own Urdu AI model called Buraq, a large language model trained on Urdu and regional languages. IT and…
Pakistan is building its own Urdu AI model called Buraq, a large language model trained on Urdu and regional languages. IT and Telecom Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja announced it at the Global AI and Digital Summit 2026 in Seoul, according to a Ministry of IT statement issued on 21 October. The government says Pakistani data used by the model will be processed inside the country.
Buraq at a glance
| What it is | A government-backed large language model for Urdu and regional languages |
| Announced by | Federal IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja |
| Where | World Bank panel at the Global AI and Digital Summit 2026, Seoul |
| Data | To be processed in Pakistan using sovereign computing capacity being procured |
| Launch date | Not announced |
Sources: Express Tribune and TechJuice.
Why build an Urdu AI model?
Popular AI chatbots are trained mostly on English text. TechJuice notes that Urdu makes up only about 0.03% of web content in the Common Crawl dataset that many models learn from, which is why they often handle Urdu poorly. A model trained specifically on Urdu and regional languages could make government services and information easier to use for millions of people.
The four foundations behind Buraq
The minister presented Buraq as the final layer of a wider digital government programme built on:
- Identity: NADRA’s verified identity for more than 100 million Pakistanis, extended into a digital ID.
- Payments: the State Bank’s Raast instant payment system.
- Data: WASL, a national data exchange built under a World Bank-supported project.
- Safeguards: a National Data Governance Policy for classifying, sharing and protecting public data.
She said AI should be “the last layer, not the first”, arguing that skipping these foundations leads to pilots that never scale.
What is still unclear
- No launch date, public demo or technical details have been shared.
- The cost of Buraq itself has not been announced.
- It is not yet known whether citizens or businesses will be able to use it directly.
We will update this page when the ministry shares more details. For more on Pakistan’s digital economy, see record freelancer earnings and the rollout of 5G in Pakistan.
Frequently asked questions
What is Buraq?
Pakistan’s planned Urdu AI model, a large language model for Urdu and regional languages.
When will Buraq launch?
No date has been announced.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration, for representation only.
