Bhutan AI Society

22/01/2026

17/03/2025

Bhutan AI Society represented by Wangchuk took part in the National AI Strategy development workshop spearheaded by the Data Science and Al Division (DSAID) under the Government Technology (GovTech) Agency, Royal Government of Bhutan. The participants from various agencies took part to exchange insights and collaboratively formulate a forward-looking, sustainable, and inclusive Al strategy.
As the only non-profit AI community, we are taking active participation in such efforts and initiatives for ethical and responsible AI adoption in Bhutan.

05/09/2024

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” as Aries Balanay said in his opening remarks, Bhutan AI Society aims to go furthest and making meaningful impact along the way. It’s a first and important moment, paving a way with the strategic partnership with Depel Institute for Training and Development based in Thimphu, one of the first institutions to partner with AI Community in an effort to take AI advancement forward.
The signing of MoU marks the beginning of initiative that will take inclusive, responsible and ethical AI advancement in Bhutan to a greater heights leading to its adoption in Bhutan.
We look forward to an incredible journey and meaningful partnership. Further, Aries Balanay , the Managing Director of International Academy for Continuous Education will mobilise international experts and think tanks enabling knowledge transfer and collaboration in Bhutan.
Wishing a fruitful colab🙏 🇧🇹

05/09/2024

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” as Aries Balanay said in his opening remarks, Bhutan AI Society aims to go furthest and making meaningful impact along the way. It’s a first and important moment, paving a way with the strategic partnership with Depel Institute for Training & Development based in Thimphu, one of the first institutions to partner with AI Community in an effort to take AI advancement forward.
The signing of MoU marks the beginning of initiative that will take inclusive, responsible and ethical AI advancement in Bhutan to a greater heights leading to its adoption in Bhutan.
We look forward to an incredible journey and meaningful partnership. Further, Aries Balanay , the Managing Director of International Academy for Continuous Education will mobilise international experts and think tanks enabling knowledge transfer and collaboration in Bhutan.
Wishing a fruitful colab🙏 🇧🇹
Khedrup Dorji Dorjee Wangdee Adap Som Yangzom Sonam Wangchukz Dhendrup T

13/07/2024

Bhutan AI Society Members and AI enthusiasts In Thimphu Today🤖

We hosted a networking session on "A Beginner's Guide to AI" with members and AI enthusiasts.

Topics included:
🔹 Inspiration and the reason we must roll up our sleeves: AI is revolutionizing industries at a rapid pace, and staying ahead is crucial to harness its full potential for economic growth and innovation.

🔹 A brief history of AI: From its inception in the 1950s to today's cutting-edge advancements, understanding AI's evolution helps us appreciate its impact and future trajectory.

🔹 : Crafting effective prompts is key to maximizing AI's capabilities, ensuring accurate and relevant outputs in various applications.

🔹 for images, videos, voice, and text: Exploring tools that create content autonomously, transforming creative industries and everyday tasks.

🔹 : Demonstrating how AI can enhance productivity, automate mundane tasks, and provide intelligent insights across different professions.

🔹 AI & Bhutan: Finding the nexus: Identifying how AI can address Bhutan's unique challenges, from sustainable development to preserving cultural heritage, and driving economic diversification.

🔹 : Emphasizing the importance of fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI development and deployment to ensure it benefits society without unintended harm.

Participants included Planning Officers, HR officer, teacher, civil engineer, and forestry officer from the Royal Government of Bhutan, as well as representatives from the private sector, corporate world, and college students.

We explored 9 AI tools: , Copilot .AI, .ai Perplexity Leonardo.Ai VIDEOAI, INC. .go

We had a deep dive session on Data Analysis using paid and free version of ChatGPT, including data clean up, visualisation and drawing insights from the qualitative information.

The session was filled with insightful discussions and hands-on learning. Excited to see how AI will shape Bhutan's future! 🚀
Doing our part no matter how small, for the benefit of all!

02/06/2024

28/04/2024

28 April 2024: His Majesty The King granted Dhar to appoint the Chairperson and Commissioners of Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) at the Tashichhodzong today.

Tashi Pem, Director General of the Department of Environment and Climate Change (MoENR), has been appointed the Chairperson of the Royal Civil Service Commission.

The four RCSC Commissioners are Babu Ram Sherpa, Tashiyangtse Dzongda, Kinlay Tshering, Director General of Agricultural Marketing & Cooperatives (MoAL), Lobzang Dorji, Sarpang Dzongda, and Tshering Cigay Dorji (Ph.D), Executive VP of SELISE Bhutan Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Swiss software company SELISE, prior to which he was the CEO of Thimphu TechPark.

The five-year term of the 3rd Commission, headed by Chairperson Dasho Karma Hamu Dorjee completed its term on April 16th, 2024.

In accordance with Article 26.2 of the Constitution, the Chairperson and Commissioners of the RCSC are appointed by The Druk Gyalpo, from a list of names recommended jointly by the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of Bhutan, the Speaker, the Chairperson of the National Council and the Leader of the Opposition Party.

L-R: Lobzang Dorji, Kinlay Tshering, Tashi Pem (Chairperson), Babu Ram Sherpa, and Tshering Cigay Dorji.

18/04/2024

𝐁𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 (𝐛𝐀𝐈𝐬) 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

The bAIs participated as an informant for the ongoing consultation as part of Bhutan’s AI Readiness, conducted jointly by the Government Technology (GovTech) Agency, Royal Government of Bhutan and the UNDP Bhutan Country Office. The session assembled perspectives and debated the pros and cons of an AI application in school and tourism sectors. Discussions around academic integrity and gaps in AI tools were discussed in length while acknowledging the need for an academic regulation to promote responsible AI use.

The bAIs’ views around the ethical framework in AI were collated for a peaceful coexistence between AI developments and humans. Further, the discussion explored the roles of the government in creating a thriving environment for AI development and AI entrepreneurship besides naming opportunities to contextualize existing AI tools for Bhutanese-friendly usage. It included GNH and Bhuddhism-anchored AI development(s) and Dzongkha Natural Language Processing (NLP) mechanisms in current AI tools. The session also focused on the limitations of AI infrastructure in Bhutan and AI-based innovative financing strategies for the financial sustainability of tech entrepreneurship.

bAIs reinforced its concerted efforts to complement the government in AI developments. And wished for an AI-specific policy in the country given its fleet-footed advancements globally.

16/04/2024

There is a news article circulated on social media, stating that Bhutan has the highest share of population using the ChatGPT in the world which ends with “ChatGPT addict”. The source shared doesn’t give a concrete method to claim it accurately. You can find the news article here: https://coinjournal.net/news/the-most-chatgpt-addicted-countries/

The methodology involved obtaining data on the number of unique monthly visits from Ahrefs and population statistics from worldometers.info for each country. Using this data, the percentage of the population engaging with ChatGPT was calculated.

That's a simplistic methodology, and can produce unexpected results for smaller countries like Bhutan. Presumably, the source only got some monthly visit data from ahrefs for an unspecified site. Further, there is unlikely that any Ahrefs service or document makes claims about ChatGPT adoption. Ahrefs does not track and let anyone find out the number of unique visitors of ChatGTP users from a specific country. Ahrefs does not provide the capability to track individual visitors on external websites. Ahrefs tools are designed for SEO and backlink analysis, and they do not function as visitor tracking solutions.

We have verified this information on the ahrefs capability to track individual unique visitors of a closed (publicly not accessible) website like ChatGPT by talking to the ahrefs company as well.

The company stated to our response "The 'methodology' mentioned above is the author's achievement". So this is vague and doesn't provide concrete method to claim Bhutan as the ChatGPT addict. Get the facts checked!

12/04/2024

It was an honor to have met with Ms.Sonam Pelden, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at the .AI. Ms.Sonam is the first Bhutanese entrepreneur to make it to the Forbes list “30 under 30 Asia” 2017 under the Consumer Technology category.

We had a fruitful discussion around , in the world, establishing startups, and non-profits and ofcourse her journey into the world of AI and technologies. She is a self-taught tech and AI expert having founded multiple tech startups around the world.

and its development is still evolving around the world, and the best way to cope up with is to immerse oneself into rather than seeking experience elsewhere. Further, the like minded individual must come together and initiate programs that are impactful to the people and the community. This also enhances resource mobilisation through various funding windows.

Ms. Sonam worked with the Economist in New York, the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank. She holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and studied neuroscience and economics at Brown University.

As an AI community in Bhutan and first of its kind, we are fortunate to have met her and we hope her guidance will help us establish ourselves even more vibrant AI community in Bhutan.