In the US, a 17-year-old student launched an AI platform for job searches — Fortune

In the United States, 17-year-old Navya Tuteja, a student at a school in Northern Virginia, launched Raaha, a free AI platform for neurodivergent job seekers. The service helps assess how well a job opening matches a candidate’s needs before they apply. Two months after its launch, the platform had attracted more than 1,000 users and lists about 20,000 job openings, Fortune reports.

Platform for evaluating job openings

Tuteja attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a selective school near Washington. She said the idea for Raaha came from the experience of her mother, who has a hearing impairment, as well as from observing how job listings describe employers’ requirements but do not explain the actual conditions of day-to-day work.

The platform offers a questionnaire that evaluates listings based on several criteria and is intended to give candidates a more realistic picture of a job opening. Tuteja funded the development herself and is keeping the service free for now. In the future, she is considering a model under which employers and employment organizations would pay to use the platform or improve listings.

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AI restrictions at school

The school’s Wi-Fi network blocks ChatGPT, Claude, and similar tools. The student said this led her to use generative AI less during her studies, although the ban was inconvenient for her. At the same time, she does not consider blocking technologies a long-term solution and advocates for their proper regulation and education on responsible use.

Tuteja leads the school’s artificial intelligence club. She said she wrote Raaha’s basic algorithm herself, while using AI for mechanical tasks, including refining the website’s design. For academic assignments, especially those related to exams, she tries not to use such tools.

In addition to Raaha, the student developed Legible, a tool that explains special education documents in plain language, including Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, and 504 plans. She also presented the proposed Traceable Accessibility transparency standard to local state senators and discussed it with the U.S. Department of Education.