When it comes to potential, Pakistanis have no limits. While the rest of the world is obsessed with artificial intelligence (AI) avatars of themselves, an artist from a rural town in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is making news for utilising cutting-edge technology to visualise the lives of people in Mohenjo Daro’s vanished civilization.
Rehmatullah Mirbahar, a computer technician at the Thatta district health department who learned how to create art using AI technologies through websites and YouTube tutorials, was shocked by the enormously positive response to his art and photographs of Mohenjo Daro.
After spending three months mastering AI, the 34-year-old was inspired to visualise the ancient city of Mohenjo Daro and its residents. He learned about the area’s historical architecture, heritage, and religion through photos of the ruins of the lost city and his own knowledge.
Talking to the media, he said, “When I first created these images, I did not upload them because I didnÂ’t think people would like them. But then I decided to upload them and I canÂ’t believe how they got viral. The response had been great. There have been calls from Germany, calls from the United States, I got calls from India as well.”
“Whatever came to my mind about Mohenjo Daro, I reimagined [all of that] through AI. It gives fifty or sixty percent results based on the data it has and [therefore] it needs modification Â… [We have to look] at how the faces of people appear, we have to fix their faces, have to change their colours, and the rest of the modifications are done with the help of AI,” Mirbahar added.
Moreover, Mirbahar intends to visualise the historic seashore city of Banbhore, from which historians think Arab general Muhammad Bin Qasim entered Sindh in the 8th century AD. He also intends to recreate life in Makli and its ancient graveyard of the greatest dynasties that existed between the 14th and 18th centuries, as well as Taxila, the ancient Gandhara capital city founded approximately 1000 BCE.