Original title: AMINA: The Inclusive and Accountable AI for Marginalized Immigrant Nonprofit Assistance
Maryam Mokhberi, Dipto Das, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed · August 2026
Immigrant-led nonprofits in sensitive political situations often get locked out of official registries and digital platforms. To help them, researchers built and tested a prototype artificial intelligence assistant named AMINA. They designed AMINA using input from Iranian immigrant nonprofit workers who struggle with limited resources, strict rules about legitimacy, and political misinformation. The system operates as a collaborative helper. It sends proactive reminders, handles everyday tasks, recognizes informal community efforts, fights misinformation, and offers multilingual, accessible interactions. The researchers discovered that this assistant can lower reporting burdens and increase transparency. It also helps widely separated groups collaborate better. However, the study cautions that using AI in these sensitive environments still brings major risks alongside its benefits.
Imagine a community garden that is not on any official city map. They cannot get water access or permits, and neighbors spread rumors about their activities. They rely on volunteers and informal communication to keep the garden running. In this paper, the AI assistant works like a coordinator that helps the garden manage tasks, correct false information, and connect with other gardens, without replacing the personal bonds that make the garden work.
Immigrant-led nonprofits, especially those in politically sensitive contexts, are often excluded from formal systems and face misinformation. This work provides design goals for an AI assistant that supports their everyday operations, recognizes informal efforts, and proactively counters misinformation. For practitioners, it offers potential to reduce reporting burdens and foster collaboration across dispersed networks.
The study is based on a small sample of Iranian immigrant nonprofit practitioners, with only 7 evaluation interviews of the prototype. The findings may not generalize to other immigrant groups or contexts. The paper identifies major risks of AI in this setting but does not fully address them. The prototype has not been deployed in real-world settings.
Ask anything about this paper. Answers come from its abstract, and say so when the abstract doesn't cover your question.
AMINA: The Inclusive and Accountable AI for Marginalized Immigrant Nonprofit Assistance — Maryam Mokhberi, Dipto Das, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed
Abstract licence: CC0
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.