How these 7 college students are using AI to advance change in Bhutan from their dorm

Seven college students in Bhutan have committed themselves to making a difference in the world of advanced technology, despite facing various obstacles.

The first artificial intelligence (AI) startup in Bhutan was established last year by Ugyen Dendup and Jamphel Yigzin Samdrup in an effort to bring AI to their beloved nation. Currently, there are 15 IT Services startups in Bhutan, according to Tracxn.

NoMindBhutan, a software company, is run by seven sophomores from a nearby college that redesigned its curriculum three years ago to promote AI entrepreneurship. The AI company develops and implements chatbots.

According to the startup’s website, the business’ mandate is to “innovate, adapt, and transform the way people interact with AI”.

Dendup and Samdrup were freshmen in the AI Development and Data Science program at the Gyalpozhing College of Information Technology when they founded NoMindBhutan.

The group of university students operate from their dormitory as they work at an improvised desk made by putting four wooden tables together. They rent a small place to work during breaks when the college is closed.

In an interview with Rest of World, Dendup clarified that the team’s goal was to introduce AI capabilities suitable for the Bhutanese setting, rather than having a grand vision.

After writing several proposals to major institutions in the country, Bhutan National Bank became the company’s first client in August 2023. The students expressed that the financial institution’s belief in them “significantly elevated” their “visibility and credibility in the market”.

“We have brought many big companies and government institutions to our side. They are all paying customers for us … We have a dream to have our own server, run our own natural language processing … but for now it’s beyond our capacity,” the 23-year-old is quoted by Rest of World.

Following a royal decree requesting educational reform, the AI entrepreneurship program was launched in 2021 and provided an industry-focused curriculum. To assist budding entrepreneurs, the college invited over a dozen Singaporean instructors with backgrounds in artificial intelligence and data analytics.

However, some experts believe that instead of leaving it to young people to build AI tools, the government should invest in other fields of technology, such as cloud computing, and improve AI literacy for existing firms.

AI advocate and CEO of digital media startup Nyingnor, Phub Dorji, shared these sentiments with Rest of World, saying “There are immediate benefits in earning revenue by helping Bhutanese companies utilize AI tools. However, if taken too seriously and if government funds are heavily invested in this area, it could potentially result in a waste of resources.”

Meanwhile, the largest data center in the world is 10.7 million square feet and is located in China. Bhutan currently faces challenges with a closed-off digital ecosystem and limited physical infrastructure, making it difficult to market even pre-existing AI solutions to a larger audience.

This is a problem NoMindBhutan is also facing.

Despite the hurdles, NoMindBhutan is already planning bigger projects. In June, the startup introduced a personalized AI instructor called Sherig.ai.

It allows students to customize curricula with video lessons and quizzes based on textbooks written in Bhutanese. Additionally, a new version of the chatbot, that the company is working on, will reportedly allow customers complete control over its management and training.