INTEGRATING GENERATIVE AI INTO THE MEDIA STUDIES CURRICULUM IN PAKISTAN: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), such as ChatGPT and tools that create text, images, audio, and video, has spread quickly into classrooms and newsrooms. This paper asks how media studies programmes in Pakistan can use generative AI well. It uses primary policy data from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), mainly the 2025 revised curriculum for Media and Communication Studies and the 2026 decision to make an AI course compulsory, together with recent international research. The paper has three parts. First, it sets out the opportunities: faster drafting and editing, idea generation, translation and transcription in local languages, data analysis support, personalized feedback, and hands-on production practice. Second, it explains the challenges: made-up facts, bias, academic dishonesty, loss of basic skills, privacy risks, weak performance in Urdu and regional languages, unequal access, and the easy creation of deepfakes. Third, and most important, it draws out the pedagogical implications, that is, what this means for teaching and assessment. It argues that bans and detection software will not work, and that the better path is to redesign teaching so that students learn to use generative AI openly, critically, and ethically. The paper offers a simple three-tier assignment framework, a map of the shift from old to new teaching methods, and practical steps for teachers, departments, and HEC. The central message is that generative AI should support, not replace, the thinking and judgement that media education exists to build.