Atlas AI Institute · AI for Good

Artificial Intelligence for People, Planet & Public Good

Building responsible AI systems that strengthen civic governance, trusted information, and climate resilience across Bangladesh and the Global South.

From civic intelligence and emergency response to information integrity and climate resilience, Atlas AI Institute develops practical AI systems designed around measurable public value.

Explore Our Platforms → Partner With Us →

3DivisionsNagorikBD coverage

19ZilaNational civic technology reach

4Civic SystemsIntegrated NagorikBD portfolio

2Live PlatformsPublic-interest AI infrastructure

10+Research PublicationsOpen research

75AI Policy SWAT AnalysesCountry-level diagnostics

The Atlas Approach

AI Designed Around Public Value

Public-interest AI is artificial intelligence built to solve meaningful societal challenges — not simply to automate existing systems or serve a privileged few. Every initiative at Atlas AI Institute is built around four non-negotiable principles.

Transparency

How decisions and systems work should be understandable and open to scrutiny.

Accountability

Systems must remain accountable to the communities affected by them.

Inclusion

AI should work for underserved populations, multilingual communities, and resource-constrained environments.

Measurable Impact

Technology should be evaluated through real-world public outcomes—not simply technical performance.

Founded and directed by Nafiul Ahmad Rafi, AI governance researcher and author · ORCID 0009-0001-3009-2626

Live · Public-Interest AI

Two Platforms. One Public-Interest Mission.

Civic Technology · Live

NagorikBD — Digital Intelligence for Every Citizen

An initiative of Atlas AI Institute

A public-interest civic technology initiative building AI-powered digital systems for civic information, climate resilience, emergency response, and community participation across Bangladesh. NagorikBD is live in production across 3 divisions and 19 zila, spanning 170+ upazilas, running four integrated civic systems for citizens, communities, and public institutions.

3Divisions

19Zila

4Civic Systems

Nagorik AI

Active

An AI-powered civic intelligence chatbot helping citizens access information, understand public issues, and interact with civic knowledge in natural language.

Nagorik Climate

Implemented

A climate intelligence and disaster-awareness system helping communities understand flood risk, environmental threats, and emergency conditions.

Emergency Blood Network

Active

A community-powered emergency blood donation and donor registration system connecting people during urgent medical needs.

District Complaint Dashboard

Research

A citizen-facing platform for organizing and visualizing district-level public complaints and civic issues, currently in the research phase.

Civic AI Chatbot Climate & Flood Awareness Emergency Response Complaint Visualization Bangla-First Design

Visit NagorikBD →

Trusted Information · Live

AI-Powered Fact-Checking for Bangladesh

Bangladesh's first AI-powered fact-checker

A person types a claim or uploads an image, and FactCheckBD's AI checks it instantly using real-time web sources — no account, no waiting for editorial review. Built to help citizens counter misinformation and AI-generated fabrications circulating across Bangladesh's Bangla and English digital media environment.

Claim / Image

→

AI Analysis

→

Real-Time Web Sources

→

Instant Result

Instant AI Fact-Checking Image Analysis Real-Time Web Sources Bangla & English

Visit FactCheckBD →

One Civic Platform. Multiple Public Needs.

NAGORIKBD

CIVIC INTELLIGENCE
Nagorik AI

CLIMATE INTELLIGENCE
Nagorik Climate

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Emergency Blood Network

CIVIC ACCOUNTABILITY
District Complaint Dashboard

Next Horizon

What We're Building Next

01 · In Development

Climate Intelligence Mapping

Expanded AI risk-mapping and multi-hazard early-warning tools for climate-vulnerable communities across Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal, building on the Nagorik Climate system already live within NagorikBD.

02 · Planned

Agriculture & Market Intelligence

Smallholder crop advisory and commodity/market data platforms for farmers and policymakers, extending the Institute's civic and climate work into agriculture and economic intelligence across South Asia.

How We Build

Responsible AI

Every system we build is designed with transparency, safety, and accountability at its core, with human oversight maintained on all consequential decisions.

Human-Centered Design

Communities shape every product decision, from early research through deployment, division by division and district by district.

Evidence-Based Research

Initiatives are grounded in peer-reviewed research, independently verified datasets, and field-tested methodologies, published openly for external replication and critique.

Climate Resilience

Bangladesh faces existential climate risk. Systems like Nagorik Climate help vulnerable communities anticipate hazards and recover from disasters faster, with fewer lives lost.

Open Knowledge

Research, datasets, policy frameworks, and software are shared openly. Public-interest AI cannot be proprietary—open knowledge accelerates shared progress.

Global South Innovation

Solutions are designed in and for the Global South, by practitioners who understand low-bandwidth environments, multilingual populations, and resource-limited governance systems.

Measurable Public Value

Technology is only meaningful when it produces measurable benefits for people and institutions.

170+UpazilasLive AI governance system deployed

19ZilaNagorikBD coverage — across 3 divisions of Bangladesh

4Civic SystemsNagorikBD portfolio — Nagorik AI, Nagorik Climate & more

10+Research PublicationsOpen access, peer & policy reviewed

6National AI Policy FrameworksBangladesh-focused governance work

75AI Policy SWAT AnalysesCountry-level governance diagnostics

Designed in the Global South.

Built for the realities of the Global South.

AI systems designed from the outset for low-bandwidth connectivity, multilingual populations, resource-limited governance systems, and communities often excluded from technology infrastructure.

Bangladesh→ South Asia→ Southeast Asia→ Sub-Saharan Africa→ MENA

AI for Sustainable Development

Responsible AI can become infrastructure for achieving sustainable development—not a separate technological agenda.

13Climate Action

4Quality Education

10Reduced Inequalities

9Industry & Innovation

16Peace, Justice & Institutions

17Partnerships for the Goals

The Atlas AI for Good Vocabulary

Plain-language definitions of the terms used throughout this page, so the meaning is never left implicit.

AI for Good

The application of artificial intelligence to problems with clear public benefit — climate, civic governance, information integrity, livelihoods — rather than to commercial optimization alone.

Civic AI

AI systems that help citizens access civic information, understand public issues, and interact with government services, as NagorikBD's Nagorik AI does in Bangla, on mobile, without technical expertise.

Responsible AI

AI development practice that includes bias auditing, published documentation, and human oversight of any decision with material consequences for a person or community.

Global South AI

AI systems designed from the outset for low-bandwidth connectivity, multilingual populations, and resource-limited governance systems — not adapted after the fact from tools built for high-income markets.

Digital Public Infrastructure

Shared, often open-source digital systems — identity, payments, data exchange, civic platforms — that a country can build public services on top of, comparable to physical infrastructure like roads or the power grid.

Public-Interest AI

AI built and released primarily to serve the public good — offered free or at cost to governments and civil society, rather than sold for profit.

Questions About AI for Good

Short, direct answers about Atlas AI Institute's public-interest AI work in Bangladesh and the Global South.

What is Atlas AI Institute's "AI for Good" program?

It is a set of live, public-interest AI platforms built by Atlas AI Institute: NagorikBD, a civic technology initiative with four integrated systems across Bangladesh, and FactCheckBD, an instant AI-powered fact-checking tool — with climate and agriculture platforms currently in development.

What is NagorikBD?

NagorikBD is a public-interest civic technology initiative and an initiative of Atlas AI Institute. It runs four AI-powered systems — Nagorik AI, Nagorik Climate, Emergency Blood Network, and a District Complaint Dashboard — live across 3 divisions and 19 zila, spanning 170+ upazilas of Bangladesh.

What is FactCheckBD and how does it work?

FactCheckBD is Bangladesh's first AI-powered fact-checker. A person types a claim or uploads an image, and the AI checks it instantly using real-time web sources, helping counter misinformation and AI-generated fabrications in Bangla and English.

What does "Global South AI" mean in this context?

It means AI systems designed from the outset for low-bandwidth connectivity, multilingual populations, and resource-limited governance systems, rather than adapted after the fact from tools built for high-income markets.

Are Atlas AI Institute's tools free for governments, NGOs, and citizens?

Yes. NagorikBD and FactCheckBD are both offered on a non-commercial, public-interest basis, and the Institute's research, datasets, and policy frameworks are published openly.

Who founded and leads Atlas AI Institute?

Atlas AI Institute was founded and is directed by Nafiul Ahmad Rafi, an AI governance researcher based in Bangladesh who also authors national AI policy and governance frameworks for governments in the Global South.

How can an organization partner with Atlas AI Institute or NagorikBD?

Government ministries, UN agencies, universities, development finance institutions, civil society organizations, and technology companies can reach Atlas AI Institute via its partnership page.

Collaborate

Build Responsible AI With Us

Atlas AI Institute welcomes collaboration with governments, universities, UN agencies, development finance institutions, civil society organizations, open-source communities, and philanthropic institutions working toward ethical and inclusive AI for the Global South.

Partner With Atlas → Contact the Institute →

Government Ministries UN Agencies Universities & Research Institutes Development Finance Civil Society Organizations Technology Companies Philanthropic Foundations

Technology Should Benefit Everyone.

NagorikBD and FactCheckBD are designed to strengthen communities, improve governance, build climate resilience, and expand trusted information across Bangladesh — with a growing roadmap into agriculture and economic intelligence for the wider Global South — because equitable access to AI is a prerequisite for a just digital future.