Building the AI Policy Research Institution for the Global South
atlasaii.orgAtlas AI Institute is an independent research institution dedicated to mapping, comparing, and shaping AI governance frameworks across developing nations. Since its founding, the Institute has functioned as the Global South AI Policy Hub — a single reference point for researchers, governments, and civil society working on AI regulation outside the traditional G7/EU policy axis.
Our Vision
An institution built for the gap nobody else was filling.
Most AI governance research is written from — and for — a handful of wealthy nations. Atlas AI Institute exists because the other 130+ countries on earth also need AI policy that fits their legal systems, infrastructure realities, and development priorities.
We are building the first dedicated research institution that treats Global South AI governance as its core mandate rather than an afterthought — producing comparative frameworks, country-level policy drafts, and a long-term monograph series that can sit on the same shelf as work coming out of Brussels, Geneva, or Washington.
Every dataset, draft, and framework we publish is designed to be usable by a ministry, a regulator, or a civil society group directly — not just cited in another paper.
"AI governance frameworks built for Brussels rarely survive contact with Dhaka, Lagos, or Jakarta. The Global South needs its own policy architecture — and its own institution to build it."
Our Record
Founded November 2024 — output to date.
Project Timeline
From founding to institutional output.
Atlas AI Institute founded
Established as an independent research institution focused on AI governance and policy for developing nations, positioning itself as the Global South AI Policy Hub.
Country-level policy drafting begins
Development of AI policy drafts for 50+ countries across the Global South, forming the foundation of a comparative governance framework.
Atlas AI Hub 97-Country Dataset
A structured dataset documenting AI governance frameworks across 97 countries — the empirical backbone for comparative research and the Institute's Global AI Governance Readiness Index (GAGRI).
Policy monograph: "Governing the Invisible"
A book-length work on AI policy and the Global South, drawing directly on the 97-country dataset and the Institute's comparative governance framework.
Core Workstreams
How the Institute's research becomes policy-ready output.
Country AI Policy Drafts
Tailored AI governance policy drafts for 50+ Global South nations — adapted to local legal systems, institutional capacity, and development priorities.
Global South Governance Framework
A comparative AI governance readiness framework (GAGRI) built from the 97-country dataset, designed to benchmark and guide national AI policy.
Policy Monograph Series
"Governing the Invisible: AI Policy and the Global South" — a chapter-by-chapter academic monograph built on field research and the Institute's dataset.
"Governing the Invisible: AI Policy and the Global South"
A chapter-by-chapter examination of how AI governance is — and isn't — taking shape across the developing world, grounded in the Atlas AI Hub's 97-country dataset and the Institute's comparative policy drafts. The monograph is being written alongside the Institute's wider research program and is intended as a foundational reference for policymakers, researchers, and civil society organizations working on AI regulation outside the traditional Global North policy axis.
Explore the Global South AI Policy Hub
Access country policy drafts, the 97-country dataset, and the GAGRI framework directly on atlasaii.org.
An AI Governance Ecosystem for Every Citizen
nagorikbd.orgNagorikBD is a full-stack AI governance and civic tech ecosystem built from the ground up across Bangladesh's local government structure — division, zila, and upazila — paired with an AI assistant that helps every citizen navigate government services directly.
Administrative Coverage
A complete AI governance ecosystem mapped onto Bangladesh's real local government structure.
How the Structure Scales
Division → Zila → Upazila — built bottom-up for replication nationwide.
An AI that helps every citizen reach the right governance service
At the center of NagorikBD is the Nagorik AI system — an AI model that's always available to help citizens understand and access government services, regardless of which division, zila, or upazila they belong to. It acts as a constant, always-on guide through Bangladesh's governance system, turning a complex administrative structure into something any citizen can navigate by simply asking.
Ecosystem Components
The building blocks of the NagorikBD platform.
Division–Zila–Upazila Data Architecture
A structured governance dataset built across 1 division, 4 zila, and 35 upazila — the administrative backbone that powers every citizen-facing feature on the platform.
Nagorik AI Assistant
An AI assistant that citizens interact with directly to understand local governance services — designed to be the simplest possible front door to a complex system.
NagorikBD Civic Tech Platform
The underlying civic tech platform connecting citizens, local governance data, and AI assistance into a single ecosystem accessible at nagorikbd.org.
Nationwide Replication
The division–zila–upazila model built here is designed to be replicated across Bangladesh's full administrative map — 8 divisions, 64 districts, and 495+ upazilas.
Explore the NagorikBD Ecosystem
View the governance data, Nagorik AI assistant, and full division–zila–upazila coverage on nagorikbd.org.
A Social Platform Where No Algorithm Decides What You Say
Talk Bangladesh is a social media and civic tech platform built around a single principle: people should be able to speak about their rights without an algorithm quietly deciding who gets heard. The platform integrates a built-in AI fact-checking system so that open discussion is paired with accuracy — not with moderation that filters voices before they're seen.
No Algorithmic Monitoring
Content isn't ranked, filtered, or suppressed by an algorithm — what people post is what the community sees, unfiltered.
Open Space to Speak
A civic space where everyone can speak loudly for their rights — built for genuine community voice, not engagement metrics.
Built-In AI Fact-Checking
An integrated AI fact-checking layer keeps discussion grounded in accuracy — without acting as a gatekeeper for who gets to speak.
Bangladesh's First AI-Based Fact-Checking System
factcheckbd.orgFactCheckBD is the first AI-based fact-checking system of its kind, built on a real dataset of nearly 8 lakh (800,000) verified records. It powers the fact-checking layer used across the Insights Bangladesh / PIBBD civic tech ecosystem — including Talk Bangladesh — giving citizens a way to verify claims against real, structured data rather than guesswork.
Talk Bangladesh and FactCheckBD are designed as connected layers of the same civic tech ecosystem under Insights Bangladesh (PIBBD) — an open social space for civic voice, backed by an AI fact-checking system built on real, large-scale data. Together they form a model for civic platforms that protect open speech while keeping public discussion grounded in verifiable facts.
Explore Talk Bangladesh & FactCheckBD
Join the conversation on Talk Bangladesh, or verify a claim using FactCheckBD's ~8 lakh-entry dataset.