Two years after launch, the AI-verification programme expands into Balochistan and KP as Punjab pitches a public-private model.
LAHORE: Google’s Digital Sahafat programme has trained more than 4,000 Pakistani journalists, media workers and students to use AI tools for verification and research since 2024, four times the target it set at launch, the company said at a two-year review event in Lahore.
When Google and the Pakistani ed-tech social enterprise Tech Valley unveiled the scheme in 2024, they aimed to reach 1,000 journalists through 40 master trainers. The programme now counts more than 60 master trainers across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Surveys of 2025 participants found that 85% now use Google AI tools in their daily work, nearly 68% save more than a quarter of their time on routine tasks, and confidence in using AI rose by 260%, according to Google.
Trainees learn to use Gemini for drafting, Google Trends to track breaking stories, Pinpoint to search large document sets and NotebookLM to summarise transcripts and translate source material, with sessions held in local languages.
A cascade across four provinces
The model relies on master trainers who pass skills on to newsrooms and campuses. Partners include the Punjab Higher Education Department, Sindh’s Science and IT Department, the information departments of Balochistan and Sindh, and universities including Beaconhouse National University, International Islamic University Islamabad, Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Bahria University and the University of Karachi.
“No government can do this alone. It takes Google, Tech Valley, our universities, and our media houses working together,” said Ali Dar, adviser to the Punjab chief minister on artificial intelligence, who has argued that Punjab’s AI push must reach beyond big cities.
Kate Beddoe, Google’s managing director for news partnerships in Asia-Pacific, who also spoke at the programme’s 2024 launch, said the way Pakistani journalists had embraced AI was shaping the company’s work with newsrooms across the region. Hum Network founder Sultana Siddiqui attended the event at the Pearl Continental Hotel.
Verification in a noisy market
The timing matters. Pakistan’s internet user base passed 116 million in early 2025, and newsrooms face a steady flow of manipulated images, recycled video and fabricated documents, particularly during elections and security crises. Reporters in smaller cities, who often have the weakest access to tools and connectivity, are among those the programme set out to reach.
Google has made Pakistan a growing focus, pitching AI and app growth at Lahore Fort last month. Globally it says it has trained 2.5 million journalists and media professionals in 120 countries.
Training addresses only part of the pressure on the profession. Lahore journalists this month marked a black day over cases under the electronic crimes law and unpaid wages, reminders that better tools need a secure and solvent press to make a difference.
Leave a Reply