About Fulcrum
A fixed point that lets a small force move a large weight.
Volunteer-run non-profit · Founded 2025 · Kathmandu, Nepal
Our vision
Computer intelligence is the only invention mankind will ever need to build.
An idea from the scientist I. J. Good, 1965, who argued the first ultraintelligent machine would be "the last invention that man need ever make".
Shouldn’t everyone get a fair chance to understand, use, and create it? Including those who are underprivileged, and those from underserved regions?
The gap is not talent. Ability is distributed evenly across the world; opportunity is not. What separates a student in Kathmandu or rural Bihar from one at a well-funded lab is rarely intelligence. It is access to supervision, to reviewers, to equipment, and to the unwritten rules that nobody writes down.
Fulcrum exists to supply that missing layer. We are a volunteer-based non-profit: a group of researchers and practitioners from around the world helping people from less-resourced areas learn AI, build with it, and publish in it.
Why the name
A lever is useless on its own. Give it a fixed point to turn against and it will move almost anything.
Our mentees supply the force. We try to be the fixed point.
Pivot for Change
Fulcrum serves as the catalyst empowering transformation in under-resourced regions.
Unlocking Potential
We help individuals discover and develop their untapped abilities through guidance and opportunity.
Tools & Mentorship
Providing essential AI tools, education, and mentorship to shape the innovators of tomorrow.
How we work
Four commitments we do not negotiate on.
01
Free, permanently
No tuition, no subscription, no premium tier. Everything Fulcrum produces is released openly and stays that way.
02
Access over credentials
We do not filter on where you studied or what your institution is ranked. We filter on whether we can actually help you.
03
Depth over volume
We would rather supervise a small number of people properly than broadcast at a large number badly.
04
Volunteer-run
Nobody here draws a salary from this. That keeps the incentives honest and the programs free.
Founder
Utsav Poudel
Transferring ideas into programs.
- Visiting Researcher, Deakin University
- Research Affiliate, Monash University
- Reviewer, Journal of medicine and health sciences
- B.Tech, VIT University
Utsav Poudel founded Fulcrum after seeing the same pattern repeat: capable students from under-resourced institutions held back not by ability but by access to supervision, to reviewers, to the people already inside the field. His own research spans human-centered AI and spatial computing, with published work on AI in mental health, OCR systems, and post-quantum secure e-voting.
Selected publications
AI in mental health: a review of technological advancements and ethical issues in psychiatry
Issues in Mental Health Nursing · 2025
Applicability of OCR engines for text recognition in vehicle number plates, receipts and handwriting
Journal of Circuits, Systems and Computers · 2023
Intellectual property
System for Adaptive Graph Construction and Temporal Pattern Analysis in Interactive Health Monitoring
U Poudel, S Vairavan
IN Patent App. 202,641,012,308 · 2026
A Secure Electronic Voting System and Method for Post-Quantum Biometric E-Voting
A Poudel, U Poudel, S Vairavan
IN Patent App. 202,541,132,779 · 2026