You're pledging to donate if the project hits its minimum goal and gets approved. If not, your funds will be returned.
I spent 2025 and 2026 studying and then transitioning into AI Governance from my legal research background. I am from Bangladesh and I did the work entirely remotely, without any local ecosystem, and funding. I built my network through cold outreach and free courses and programmes.
I completed the CAIDP AI Policy Clinic (Jan - Apr 2026) as a research group member with distinction. I am a CAIDP Research Group Team Leader now (for the fall semester). I serve as a founding board member at Am I Tech Enough, UAE and am a Non-resident fellow at AI Policy Lab, India. I am also leading efforts to build AI Safety Bangladesh by coordinating with other AI safety communities in the region (Started in May). All of these are voluntary commitments.
I had to borrow money from close friends and peers to make it possible, so I could stay housed, connected and keep working while I studied and produced outputs.
The transition has worked. I have received a three-month independent contract at a US-based AI Safety Research Organization for 3 months (starting Oct - Dec). I will be researching how non-superpower led countries can gain bargaining power over International AI Governance. The contract pays the amount enough to cover the living costs for the next 3 months ($500 - Oct, $300 - Nov, $300 - Dec).
Additionally, it solves the biggest bottleneck I had, mentorship from a Senior AI safety researcher in this field.
However, I haven't been able to resolve the cost of getting here, and it is causing me immense physical and mental pressure. I'm asking for donated funds, not more loans. $1,550 clears most of my debts that need immediate resolution.
I will keep working either way. But this fund will improve my capacity to work and focus on this research with all my energy and attention. The most urgent debts fall due around 10 October so early pledges could help the most.
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
Complete my research paper on how frontier-excluded states gain bargaining power over international AI governance (my contract deliverable, Oct–Dec), targeting a venue like IASEAI'27.
Study, with complete focus, the verification literature and treaty regimes which are instrumental to the research. Learn more about extreme concentration of power.
Launch AI Safety Bangladesh's first reading circle, coordinating with counterpart communities in Nepal, UAE, and Tanzania.
Apply to fellowships and other roles for when my contract ends (ERA, IAPS etc.) from a place of stability.
~$1,550: Transition debts that need immediate repayment.
Solo. I've been a self-directed researcher for seven years, first in law, now in AI governance. Everything below was built remotely from Bangladesh, on borrowed money, with no local ecosystem.
Current AI governance work:
Researcher (contract) (Oct–Dec 2026): developing a research paper on how non-superpower-led states gain bargaining power over international AI governance.
Non-Resident Fellow, AI Policy Lab - published The Institutional Tempo Problem: Why AI Outpaces Checks and Balances and Where to Put Them Instead (Oct 2026).
Team Leader, CAIDP AI Policy Clinic (Washington D.C.) - graduated with Distinction (Spring 2026), promoted to co-lead an international research cohort's country assessments for the AI & Democratic Values Index.
The Harm Index - my independent AI policy publication: pieces on frontier-excluded states' leverage claims (Sep 2026) and platform obligations to global data subjects (May 2026).
Field-building:
AI Safety Bangladesh (May 2026–) - building the country's first AI safety community; active coordination with AI Safety communities in the region.
Founding board member, Am I Tech Enough (Dubai) - drafting the founding charter for its AI Ethics & Standards function.
Before AI governance: seven years of legal research including multi-jurisdictional compliance analysis across 148 jurisdictions; rights-based casework with UNHCR-partnered BLAST; 200+ research outputs, policy reports, and op-eds as a ghostwriter.
Every 2025-2026 item above was produced on a $0 budget while in debt. Track record on doing this work under-resourced is, unfortunately, the thing I've proven most thoroughly. If funded, I will deliver far more.
Severe instability, mental turmoil, seeking work outside the field to manage debt are the most direct outcomes if the project fails. I've worked towards this field unpaid for two years and will continue either way. But the ugliest and devastating risk for me is losing the window when my first contract, publication, and community launch could compound into a stable position.
$1,100 contracted, $0 received as of 4 Oct, 2026. A 3-month research contract with an AI safety research organisation - $500 for October, $300/month Nov–Dec. This will cover minimum living costs during the contract. Before this: $0 raised. All 2025–26 work was self- and debt-funded.