‘Just AI’ fellows pitch AI tools for public service challenges, social problems

The Just AI fellowship, an artificial intelligence literacy and civic-tech programme developed by The Good Leadership and co-organised by Good Stuff Coaching in partnership with Digital Kala and the Madhesh Library and Research Center, concluded its graduation ceremony on Saturday at the Model Institute of Technology (MIT) in Bagbazar, Kathmandu.

The event marked the culmination of a multi-week training, held from late August to September, aimed at equipping young practitioners with a grounded understanding of both the opportunities and risks arising from rapid advances in AI.

The session opened with discussions on Nepal’s evolving AI policy needs and included thematic segments on governance, mental health, and regulatory approaches. Organisers said the fellowship was designed to build capacity on pressing issues such as autonomous weapons, labour displacement, digital governance, and AI’s growing climate footprint.

Eight fellows completed the programme. During the “What social problem can AI solve?” presentation round, five fellows pitched prototypes targeting gaps in Nepal’s public services and social systems.

• Suvam Yadav, a computer science student, proposed Nadiwatch, an AI-enabled river-tracking and early-warning tool to enhance disaster preparedness in the Terai.
• Soni Adhikari, currently pursuing BALLB, outlined an AI-assisted behavioural analysis model aimed at detecting shifts in crime patterns.
• Gaurav Maharjan, a computer engineering student, presented Laskus-AI, a Nepal Bhasha translation and learning tool built from crowdsourced data.
• Kebal Badal, a computing and AI student, introduced Nepal OCR, an optical character recognition system to digitise the Devanagari script in public documents.
• Rajendra Bhatta, an environment journalist and researcher, demonstrated an AI-based approach to track misinformation and disinformation during disasters and climate-related news cycles.

The graduation ceremony was marked by the presence of The Good Leadership co-founder Simone Galimberti, project managers Anjali Sah and Sunena Tamrakar, and Aastha Acharya from Digital Kala.

Organisers emphasised that the fellowship aims to create a working community capable of contributing meaningfully to national policy debates. They, in collaboration with the fellows, also plan to draft an AI Bill.