When cooking gas became scarce, Bina Nagarkoti, an executive member of Godawari Municipality-9, bought an induction cooker. But she had no idea how to use it.

Normally, she would have asked her husband, son or brother-in-law for help. This time, however, she remembered something from an artificial intelligence training course she had attended: ChatGPT.

Nagarkoti took a picture of the cooker, uploaded it to ChatGPT and explained that she did not know how to operate it. The chatbot walked her through the process, explaining how to switch the cooker on and off, what each button does, and which temperature or power setting to use for different cooking tasks, including stir-frying vegetables.

She picked it up quickly.

One day, the cooker suddenly switched itself off. Again, she turned to ChatGPT. It advised her to check for water or dirt around the appliance and wipe it clean. She followed the instructions, and the cooker worked again. She has been using it to prepare meals ever since.

“I hardly used my phone before and knew almost nothing about AI,” Nagarkoti said. “After the training, I learnt how to use it in my daily life and at work.”

Preparing ward notices, writing proposals and drawing up schedules for events used to be daunting tasks that could take her days. Now, she said, AI has made them much easier. She uses ChatGPT to draft lists, improve wording and organise information into tables, among other tasks.

As a municipal official, Nagarkoti is careful about what she shares with the chatbot. She avoids uploading documents containing personal or sensitive information. For household matters and other personal tasks, however, she has increasingly made AI her first port of call.

She has also returned to formal education after 25 years. When she sat her Grade 12 examinations this year, AI helped her prepare.

“I have been using AI chatbots for three months now,” she said. “I have learnt that if you give AI clear prompts, it can produce useful results. But its answers are not always correct. You have to check them yourself and make corrections before using them.”

Nagarkoti was among 19 participants in an AI literacy programme held in ward 2 of Lalitpur Metropolitan City last July. The programme, titled “From Access to Agency: AI Literacy to Reduce Inequalities in Nepal”, introduced participants to practical ways of using AI tools such as ChatGPT. Three months later, she shared how she had applied what she learnt, from operating and troubleshooting an induction cooker to preparing for examinations and handling administrative work.

The initiative was supported by the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, under the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. It was led by Tomas Kvedaras, project manager at the United Nations Development Programme in Thailand, with Lalitpur Metropolitan City-2 as the local organising partner.

The participants came from varied backgrounds, including local government, banking, journalism and education. They also included people with disabilities and a Pathao ride-hailing driver.

For Anjil Raya, who drives for Pathao on Kathmandu’s streets, AI has become a tool for making social media content in his spare time.

Raya posts short videos about the Hindu god Mahadev on Facebook and YouTube. He uses ChatGPT and Google Gemini to develop scripts and generate scene-by-scene prompts. The AI-assisted videos have helped his channel attract more engagement and subscribers, he said.

He starts by giving a chatbot an outline of a story and asking it to turn the idea into a script. The tool then breaks the narrative into scenes and writes prompts for each one.

“AI writes prompts for the video, dividing the story into Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3 and so on,” Raya said. “I use those prompts with YouTube or video-generation tools to create short clips of five to 10 seconds each. I download the separate clips and put them together myself to make a video lasting 30, 40 or 50 seconds, which I then post on my channel.”

He also uses AI to enhance photographs taken on his mobile phone, making them look as though they were shot with a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera.

For Bharat BC, who has a physical disability, AI has become more than a creative tool. It has helped him work more independently.

BC, a wheelchair basketball player and project manager at the Ability Development Society of Nepal, uses AI to prepare proposals, meeting minutes and programme reports for organisations.

“In the past, I had to depend on other people for writing, reports and administrative work. Now I can do these things myself,” he said.

A proposal he prepared with AI assistance was recently approved, and the organisation is now moving towards signing a memorandum of understanding.

Tools such as Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT have improved both his productivity and his confidence, BC said. He uses them to record meetings with donors, document discussions, prepare reports on the organisation’s activities, seek feedback and create standardised formats.

“I use free tools such as Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT to research unfamiliar subjects, summarise lengthy material and design greeting cards,” he said. “Even organisations with limited staff can use AI to prepare quality proposals, minutes and reports on time. It has increased my efficiency and confidence.”

Rashmi Maharjan, who works at Prime Bank, has also found ways to cut down the time she spends on technical and administrative tasks.

She used AI to help write a PowerShell script to validate thousands of bank records and files. A task that previously took three hours can now be completed in one, she said.

“I have reached a point where I turn to AI whenever I run into a problem,” Maharjan said. “I could do without a colleague, but I need AI.”

Still, she knows the technology has limitations. Effective results depend on giving clear instructions, and AI should not be used blindly, she said.

That awareness of both the benefits and risks of AI was a central part of the programme. Participants discussed not only how the tools could make work easier, but also their limitations, the potential for misleading information and the risks of using them carelessly.

A closing ceremony was held at Shangrila Blue Hotel in Lalitpur last week to share participants’ experiences and lessons.

Kvedaras said the programme was designed to show how development funding could improve ordinary people’s lives, rather than being directed solely towards large-scale projects.

“Historically, there were many things that only wealthy people could afford to do. AI has created opportunities for everyone,” he said. “At first, I worried that people might be harmed by misinformation or incorrect advice. But after local facilitators taught participants how to use the technology carefully, I saw positive changes.”

The training was too basic for some participants. Soni Thapa, who has studied web design and information technology, said much of the material covered familiar ground and called for more advanced courses.

 “I already knew most of what was taught,” she said. “An advanced-level course would have given me the chance to learn more.”

United Nations Volunteers Nikesh Balami, Jayaraj Kumar Roy Danuwar and Nasala Joshi provided training and mentorship on using the technology safely, effectively and responsibly.

Kvedaras was surprised by how readily participants experimented with AI tools and adapted them to their needs. He said learning by doing helped build their confidence more effectively than instruction alone.

With the Nepal government increasingly prioritising technology, he said, AI literacy initiatives should be expanded beyond small-scale programmes to reach more communities.

“We have only planted a small seed,” Kvedaras said. “The proper and responsible use of technology can make a significant contribution to strengthening the capabilities of citizens and communities in the future.”