Artificial intelligence tools are becoming cheaper around the world, but they are up to 3,700 percent more expensive for Pakistani workers because most AI services are priced in dollars while local salaries are much lower.
A new analysis by Densight Labs estimates that an AI subscription costing around Rs. 6,000 a month takes up 15 percent of Punjab’s Rs. 40,000 minimum wage. For comparison, the same AI cost is only around 0.4 percent of an illustrative $5,000 monthly salary in the US. By this logic, AI tools are ~3,700 percent more expensive in Pakistan.
| Metric | Pakistan/Lahore | US Comparison |
| AI Seat Cost | Rs. 6,000/month | 0.4% of $5,000 salary |
| AI Cost vs Minimum Wage | 15% | 0.4% |
| Junior AI payback | — | 25x faster |
| AI performance price decline | 13x/year | — |
An AI tool takes around 25 times longer to pay for itself when used by a junior worker in Lahore compared with a US office worker.
A junior worker earning Rs. 60,000 a month would need to save about 48 minutes of work every day to recover the cost of a Rs. 6,000 AI subscription. For a department head, the required saving would be only around six minutes a day.
This means buying the same AI tool for every employee may not make financial sense for Pakistani companies, especially for low-income workers.
Where AI Makes Sense
The numbers become more favorable when AI is used by senior employees or for work that is repeated many times.
For example, if AI makes 30 percent of a department head’s work 25 percent faster, an employee earning Rs. 500,000 a month could save around Rs. 37,500 worth of time. Against a Rs6,000 AI subscription, that would amount to a roughly six-times return.
AI can also help new employees become productive faster.
The report cites research covering more than 5,000 support workers, where new employees using AI became 34 percent more productive. It also found that workers hired for two months reached the productivity level of workers with six months of experience.
The analysis estimates that cutting four months from the training period of a Rs. 60,000 employee could recover around Rs. 120,000 in output, compared with Rs. 72,000 for a year of an AI subscription.
Another opportunity is automating repetitive work.
The report estimates that a minimum-wage worker costs around Rs. 9 to process an invoice. AI could do the same extraction for less than Rs. 3 at the cost used in the analysis, leaving the worker to handle exceptions and more complex work.
AI Does Not Always Save Money
The analysis mentions a research study showing that consultants using AI on tasks outside its capabilities were 19 percent less likely to get the correct answer. It also cites an MIT estimate that only around 5 percent of organizations have turned enterprise AI into measurable financial gains.
The cost of AI technology is falling rapidly. The analysis estimates that the price of a fixed level of AI performance has fallen around 13 times per year since 2023. But Pakistan cannot simply wait for AI to become cheaper.
AI could reduce the incentive to outsource labour-intensive services. Pakistan’s call centre and BPO exports crossed $300 million in the first 11 months of FY2025-26, putting the sector among those that could face growing pressure from AI.
For Pakistani companies, the report suggests a simple approach: use AI where it can clearly save time or money instead of giving every employee an AI subscription.
The basic question is not whether AI is worth buying. It is whether the tool can save enough rupees to cover its own cost.
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