A 17-year-old high school student in Virginia has built an artificial intelligence startup after her school restricted access to ChatGPT and other generative AI tools.
Navya Tuteja, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, is the founder of Raaha, a free platform designed to help neurodivergent job seekers understand whether a job could suit their work style before applying. The platform has crossed 1,000 users and 20,000 job listings, according to Fortune.
How The Idea Started
Tuteja's idea for Raaha came from her own experiences and from watching her mother, who is hard of hearing, face challenges at work. She also noticed that many job advertisements explained what employers wanted from candidates but gave little information about what the actual workplace and daily work might be like.
Raaha uses information from job listings to help users assess whether a workplace may match their needs and preferences.
Tuteja's experience with AI at school also shaped how she uses the technology. Her school blocks ChatGPT, Claude and similar tools on its network. She said the restriction meant she had to rely more on her own work for assignments and exam preparation. She does not see AI itself as the problem and believes students should learn to use it properly.
Tuteja is also the president of her school's AI club.
Another Tool For Students And Families
Raaha is not Tuteja's only project. She has also worked on Legible, a tool that aims to make special-education documents easier for families to understand.
For now, Raaha is free to use. Tuteja plans to attend college and has said she could consider working on the startup full-time if it continues to grow.
This story is particularly relevant for students because Tuteja's work shows how AI can be used to solve a specific problem rather than simply to complete schoolwork.
