KARACHI: As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms daily life, speakers at Karachi's Adab Festival on Sunday examined how the technology has evolved, the opportunities it offers, and the ethical risks it poses for the future. The session, titled Designing Tomorrow with Artificial Intelligence, was held at Habitt City and featured Dr Salman Khatani and Sadaf Bhatti, with Ahsan Siddiqui moderating.

Opening the discussion, Siddiqui highlighted how swiftly technological trends shift -- from AutoCAD to e-commerce, and now to AI -- noting that while people use tools like ChatGPT or Gemini for simple tasks, very few understand how to build tools using AI itself. "Change is the only constant," he said, raising questions about AI's origins and direction.

Bhatti traced AI's roots to 1956, when John McCarthy coined the term 'artificial intelligence' at Dartmouth College. Dr Khatani emphasized how large language models (LLMs) are breaking barriers by enabling complex concepts to be taught in local languages. He shared how he once explained relativity to a seven-year-old in a regional language -- something impossible before LLMs.

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"These tools empower the next generation to learn in their native languages and uplift their families," he said. He also referenced the rise of "vibe coding," Collins Dictionary's word of the year, where young people create applications through AI prompts rather than traditional programming.

However, concerns were raised about economic imbalance. Audience member and author Syed Khawar Mehdi noted that unlike the Industrial Revolution, AI's early phase is concentrating wealth among a few, citing tech giants like Nvidia. He also warned of AI misuse in academia and the spread of historically inaccurate content and deepfakes.

"AI is excellent in engineering, diagnostics and teaching," he said. "But when it comes to values and civilisation, humans must draw the line. Humans can never be replaced."