Public servants told not to feed sensitive data into AI

Government employees have been barred from uploading classified documents and other sensitive information to public artificial intelligence (AI) tools under the National Cyber Security Handbook 2026-27 issued by the National Cyber Emergency Response Team. The handbook, issued under the Pakistan Information Security Framework 2026, lays down a set of rules governing the use of AI in government affairs. Officials will be required to use only AI tools and platforms approved by their respective departments, while government emails, software source code and citizens' personal information have also been prohibited from being shared on public AI platforms. According to the National CERT, providing sensitive information to AI platforms carries the risk of data leaks and unauthorised use. The handbook directs government employees not to upload classified documents to public AI tools. They have also been instructed not to share government email content or software source code on such platforms. Citizens' personal information is also not to be uploaded to public artificial intelligence tools. Government officials will be allowed to use only those AI tools and platforms that have been approved by their departments. The handbook further instructs employees to remove names and other sensitive information from AI prompts and files before submitting them to such tools. Any accidental disclosure of confidential information must be reported immediately to the relevant IT or cybersecurity team, according to the National CERT.