Human Development Fund

HDF LABS

Exploring technology with purpose.

HDF Labs explores how emerging technology can create new ways to connect people, inspire imagination and expand what’s possible across humanitarian work.

Explore Khayal →Why we built it ↓

Why HDF Labs

Technology should start with people.

HDF works alongside children, families and communities around the world. HDF Labs asks a simple question: how can emerging technology create experiences that are genuinely meaningful for the people we serve?

We experiment with technology not for the sake of technology, but to create new ways to imagine, connect, learn and tell human stories.

Why we built it

What if a child could see their future in front of them?

A group of smiling children in an HDF program giving thumbs up to the camera
HDF field programs

Across HDF’s field programs, we meet children with dreams of what they want to become.

We wanted to explore a simple idea: what if a child could tell us their dream, step in front of a camera and see that possibility come alive?

A doctor. An astronaut. An engineer. A pilot. An artist.

That idea became Mustaqbali, the first HDF field experience powered by Khayal.

Our first experiment

KHAYALخيال

See your imagination come alive.

Khayal is an interactive AI experience by HDF Labs that transforms live camera video using real-time generative AI.

Step in front of the camera, choose a possibility, and watch your imagination respond as you move.

Enter Khayal →
A woman in a modern hijab sits in front of a laptop with a webcam; the screen shows her transformed into a cinematic astronaut in real time
A child in an HDF community space watching a screen show him as an astronaut and a doctor

First field activation · Jordan · 2026

Khayal in the field

MUSTAQBALI

مستقبلي

MY FUTURE

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be aDOCTOR, ASTRONAUT, ENGINEER, PILOT, SCIENTIST, ARTIST

Mustaqbali is an HDF field experience powered by Khayal.

Children are invited to share what they dream of becoming and then see that possibility come alive in front of them through a live AI experience.

First field activation · Jordan · 2026

What could you imagine?

One camera.
Endless possibilities.

A young East African man shown half as himself and half transformed into an astronaut

BECOME

See yourself in new roles, perspectives and possibilities.

A young woman in a modern hijab shown half photographic and half as a cinematic illustrated character

TRANSFORM

Experience animation, cinematic worlds, watercolor, 3D and other creative interpretations.

The same person in the same pose with the room behind them transforming into an imagined cinematic world

EXPLORE

Transform the world around you and step into new environments, stories and possibilities.

Our first experiment

Experience Khayal.

Enter Khayal →