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by simonw 708 days ago
Are they using APIs? It's not clear from the article, which mentions that many international cloud services are unavailable in Bhutan (presumably due to those companies not accepting payments from Bhutan residents).

> “One of the main challenges we face is the inability to access international payment platforms such as Stripe and PayPal. Additionally, we do not have access to cloud servers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud to host our AI models, which is crucial for reducing costs and improving the quality of our AI,” said Dendup. Many of these services are not available in Bhutan, “making it impossible for us to even open an account,” he said.

Hard to tell exactly what they are building from this article.

5 comments

I think this section of their website shows some examples of their work: https://www.nomindbhutan.com/#featuredbot

It seems to be mostly chatbot integrations and development. I think it is difficult to judge for anyone in a western country, what challenges they are facing regarding services not being offered in their country.

it's probably not unlike what it was like to say "let's build a chatbot company" in the west 20+ years ago. Way less compute power & lego-component services to utilize, higher prices for everything, and much more build evrything yourself.
They have used chatbase api and the funny part is their api key is exposed
Wow, a response like this from the CEO? Really? Does it feel good to be on the lookout for "dumb kids" using your clients as bait? Do you even understand the consequences of exposing a token that can be used to change your entire chatbot’s workings? Have you thought about how this could damage your clients' businesses? Is this how you operate? And while we're at it, why are you spreading lies across the media? Be open and honest about the fact that you're just wrapping a chatbot.

You’re misleading people and your clients. If you can’t even secure your API endpoints and tokens, how do you plan to work on AI or anything advanced? Bhutan’s "Best AI R&D Company"? Really? What AI R&D have you done? Just slapping a GPT wrapper on something doesn't make it R&D. And calling yourselves the best while failing to secure a basic route? Even non-CS students can manage that nowadays.

You guys are hyping things that are not groundbreaking—it’s just a simple API call. Maybe one day you’ll actually run your own LLMs, and I genuinely hope you do. But until then, stop mislabeling yourselves. Be honest about what you’re doing. If you ever achieve something real, no one will be able to criticize you. But right now, that label of Bhutan’s Best AI R&D Company is a joke.

And as for your cheap shot at me, let me correct you: I don’t work for the government, and what I earn or what I do is none of your business. You have no idea what I work on or what I’m capable of. I don’t go around misleading clients or hyping up my work. So, you don’t know me well enough to question my skills or capabilities. Personal attacks? That’s a weak move. Maybe spend your time better—like securing your service instead of trying to insult someone who pointed out your flaws. And the reason I took so long to reply? I have more important things going on that make a real impact. I had honestly forgotten about this until a colleague pointed it out.

Also, what's this I hear about each of your team members working 9 hours a day? That’s 63 hours a week for all seven of you—how does it take so long to do what little you're doing? Maybe that’s something you should reflect on instead of letting a few good things inflate your ego.

Here’s a tip: Don’t let early success go to your head. Stay humble, be professional, and, above all, be honest. It’s clear from your replies that you’re taking this personally, but that’s what happens when you’re not transparent about what you’re doing and people start calling you out on it.

See you around and Best of Luck!

We are checking for dumb kids like you, because i thought you only know how to eat govement SALERY and know nothing.. thank god that you atleast know how check api..
Yes sir, we are using APIs because we have no other option left. We have a few more products developed and ready to launch once we integrate with a payment gateway. The reason we are focusing on the chatbot is that it is the only sellable product in my country for our sustainability. So, at least from there, we can generate some revenue to run and build our other products. That's why we mostly showcase it on our website. If you are interested and want to know more, please contact me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugyentech/. I can give a live demo.
Looking at their website looks like they are building an integrated AI chatbot service - it's inserted via JS using wordpress / other plugin see: https://www.nomindbhutan.com/guide

As a complete aside I enjoyed their about us section: https://www.nomindbhutan.com/#aboutus

We have a few more products developed and ready to launch once we integrate with a payment gateway. The reason we are focusing on the chatbot is that it is the only sellable product in my country for our sustainability. So, at least from there, we can generate some revenue to run and build our other products. That's why we mostly showcase it on our website. If you are interested and want to know more, please contact me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugyentech/. I can give a live demo.