AI Self-Sufficiency Lab
Use AI safely. Make something useful. Leave with a plan.
A practical two-session Lab for immigrants, students, families, and community groups—co-led by Atta Arghandiwal and Sohrab Rasouli.
Now inviting first host and sponsor conversations.
The two sessions
A short path with something to show at the end.
A two-session guided experience that helps immigrants, students, families, and community members use AI more safely, produce one checked useful output, and leave with a practical 30-day plan.
Judgment and safety
The first session is about deciding what a tool is for before using it. Participants set one goal of their own, learn where a person has to stay in charge, and write a first prompt they can use safely.
You leave withSafety Card, one goal, first safe prompt.
Build, verify, and plan
The second session produces something real — a letter, a plan, a summary, a set of questions — then checks it. Participants verify what the tool produced, revise it in their own words, and leave with a practical 30-day plan they can act on without the group.
You leave withOne checked and revised useful output, a verification checklist, and a practical 30-day plan.
Co-led
Two people, two responsibilities.
Dignity and responsibility
Atta Arghandiwal
Atta leads dignity, responsibility, lived experience, self-sufficiency, and the human meaning behind the work.
Safe practice with the tools
Sohrab Rasouli
Sohrab leads safe AI use, prompting, verification, exercises, and useful outputs.
How it runs
Small groups, clear limits.
- Group size
- Designed for 10 participants. Maximum 15.
- Length
- Two sessions, each up to 90 minutes.
- Virtual
- Available anywhere.
- In person
- Available in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Travel elsewhere
- Only with a written travel and expense agreement.
- Price
- No public price. Agreed in writing for each host.
Co-lead profile
Sohrab Rasouli
Sohrab Rasouli is an Afghan immigrant, educator, and co-author of The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI. He left home young, crossed borders alone, and rebuilt more than once in more than one country. Before working with artificial intelligence he took the jobs that teach the body what restarting costs, then served newcomers directly as an employment specialist. He is the founder of Noura, an artificial-intelligence project for employment-support teams.
Approved biographies for hosts and media
Introduction · one sentence
Sohrab Rasouli is an Afghan immigrant, educator, and co-author of The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI, and the founder of Noura, an artificial-intelligence project for employment-support teams.
Brief · one paragraph
Sohrab Rasouli is an Afghan immigrant, educator, and co-author of The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI. He left home young, crossed borders alone, and rebuilt more than once in more than one country. Before working with artificial intelligence he took the jobs that teach the body what restarting costs, then served newcomers directly as an employment specialist. He is the founder of Noura, an artificial-intelligence project for employment-support teams.
Short · approximately 100 words
Sohrab Rasouli is an Afghan immigrant, educator, and co-author of The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI. He left home young, crossed borders alone, and rebuilt more than once in more than one country. Before working with artificial intelligence he took the jobs that teach the body what restarting costs, and he went on to serve newcomers directly as an employment specialist, helping people prepare for work and move through the early pressure of starting again. He is the founder of Noura, an artificial-intelligence project for employment-support teams, and he co-leads the AI Self-Sufficiency Lab with Atta Arghandiwal.
Full
Sohrab Rasouli is an Afghan immigrant, educator, and co-author of The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI: A Field Manual for the Work of Standing Again.
He belongs to a later wave of Afghan displacement than his co-author. He left home young, crossed borders alone, and rebuilt his life more than once, in more than one country. Before working with artificial intelligence he took the jobs that teach the body what restarting costs.
He went on to serve newcomers directly as an employment specialist, helping people prepare for work, understand unfamiliar systems, and move through the early pressure of starting again. Two things he learned in that work run through the book: there is a distance between ability and access, and proof usually has to be rebuilt before a door will open.
Sohrab is the founder of Noura, an artificial-intelligence project for employment-support teams serving newcomers, built on one discipline: technology should help deeply, but it must never replace human judgment. He co-leads the AI Self-Sufficiency Lab with Atta Arghandiwal.
Responsibilities
What each side brings.
What the host provides
- The group and one planning contact.
- An accessible room or virtual setting.
- Participant coordination and known language or accessibility needs.
- The agreed tools, accounts, schedule, and written terms.
What Atta and Sohrab provide
- Two guided sessions of up to 90 minutes.
- Exercises and participant materials.
- The Safety Card, a checked useful output, and a 30-day plan.
- The stated privacy, verification, and human-judgment boundaries.
What happens next
Four steps, no surprises.
- Tell us about the community.
- Hold a short planning conversation.
- Confirm audience, access, schedule, responsibilities, travel, and payment in writing.
- Deliver the two-session Lab.
Other ways in
Not hosting? There are two other routes.
Join a future cohort
Individual cohorts are not scheduled yet. You can register interest and Atta will reply if a suitable group is forming and can include Sohrab in the planning conversation.
Boundaries
What this is not.
These limits are stated in the room, in the materials, and here, because they are the point of the Lab rather than a disclaimer at the end of it.
- AI is not a lawyer, doctor, immigration adviser, tax adviser, lender, employer, or final decision-maker.
- Do not enter private identity, financial, medical, immigration, employment, or confidential documents into public AI tools.
- Check important information with official sources or qualified people.
- No employment, income, admission, funding, loan, immigration, or business outcome is promised.
Who hosts a Lab
Built to sit inside an organization people already trust.
Host or sponsor
Tell us about your community.
Hosting and sponsorship both start here. Five short steps, and you can stop at any point.
How this form worksThis static website does not receive or store what you type. The button below prepares your message for review. Your email app opens only if you then choose Open the prepared email. Nothing is sent automatically; it leaves only if you press Send in your email app.
- What you are asking about
- The group
- When and how
- Funding and reporting
- How to reach you
Join a future cohort
Register your interest.
No cohort is scheduled yet. Leave the minimum we would need to reach you, and nothing more.
How this form worksThis static website does not receive or store what you type. The button below prepares your message for review. Your email app opens only if you then choose Open the prepared email. Nothing is sent automatically; it leaves only if you press Send in your email app.