Islamabad: Prof Mustansar Ali Ghazanfar, University of East London, has said that AI and fintech should be assessed through three interconnected principles of value, intelligence and accountability.
Dr Ghazanfar was addressing a seminar on “Landscape of AI and Fintech in Pakistan” organised here by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). Dr Ghazanfar said AI s cannot create lasting institutional value without verified evidence, clearly assigned ownership and human approval. He stressed that responsible AI adoption should begin with institutional needs rather than the purchase of technology. Before introducing any AI system, organisations should determine where it can create measurable value, what data it requires, what safeguards are necessary and who will remain accountable for its outputs. He noted that predictive, generative and agentic AI systems perform different functions and carry different risks, therefore, the level of oversight should correspond to the technology’s autonomy, the sensitivity of the data and the possible consequences of error.
He urged institutions to move away from informal and fragmented use of AI towards governed workflows in which approved tools, documented evidence, human review and performance measurement are built into the process. He described AI transformation primarily as an institutional and cultural change involving people, processes and data, rather than a purely technical exercise.
