Her school blocked ChatGPT. This 17-year-old built an AI to help people find jobs

When her school banned AI tools on campus, 17-year-old Navya Tuteja didn’t give up on artificial intelligence—she learned when to use it and when to set it aside. That mindset led her to create Raaha, a free AI-powered platform that helps neurodivergent job seekers quickly assess whether a job listing is a good fit before they spend hours applying.

Turning a roadblock into a blueprint

Tuteja is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, where access to tools like ChatGPT and Claude is blocked on school Wi-Fi. Instead of seeing the policy as a deal-breaker, she credits it with building discipline: using AI sparingly, keeping it out of core learning, and focusing on critical thinking—especially when studying for exams.

That approach shaped how she built Raaha. She wrote the algorithm herself and used AI only for repetitive, mechanical tasks, such as refining the website’s design. Her takeaway: the solution isn’t to ban AI outright, but to teach people how to use it responsibly.

Why Raaha exists

The idea for Raaha grew from personal experience and a simple observation. Job descriptions often say what employers want—but reveal far less about what daily work actually feels like, from communication norms to sensory environments. Tuteja’s mother is hard of hearing, and their conversations about workplace accessibility helped sharpen the focus: many job seekers, especially neurodivergent candidates, need better signals to know if a role will support them.

Raaha addresses this by scoring job postings across several dimensions. Instead of reading between the lines, candidates get a structured view of potential fit—helping them prioritize where to invest their time and energy. Within two months of launch, the platform had attracted more than 1,000 users and processed 20,000 job listings.

More than a job-matching tool

Raaha isn’t Tuteja’s only project. She also built Legible, a tool that translates complex special-education documents—like IEPs and 504 plans—into clearer language for families. In testing early versions, she noticed a common pitfall: AI-generated summaries can strip away context and sources that parents need to verify critical details. That led her to propose a transparency standard she calls Traceable Accessibility, designed to keep citations and context intact so families know where information comes from.

Her approach is consistently practical: find a real problem, build a solution, and bring it to the people who might use or oversee it. Along the way, she has engaged with education stakeholders to discuss how transparency can coexist with accessibility.

Advocacy beyond code

Tuteja also runs Empower InvisAbilities, a student-led nonprofit focused on raising awareness about neurodiversity and invisible disabilities. The organization develops educator toolkits, hosts workshops, and supports student chapters to help schools and communities better understand diverse learning and working needs. It’s another example of how she connects technology, policy, and lived experience.

Free today, building for tomorrow

Tuteja bootstrapped Raaha and is keeping it free while the user base grows. Over time, she envisions employers and workforce organizations using the platform to improve job postings and workplace accessibility, potentially forming the basis of a sustainable business model.

College remains part of her plan, though she’s open to running the company full-time if growth continues. For now, she’s focused on traction, user feedback, and outcomes—measuring success by whether candidates feel more confident, better prepared, and less overwhelmed during the job hunt.

A philosophy shaped at home and at school

At home, her parents encouraged her to embrace technology without letting it become a shortcut. That guidance mirrors her school’s constraints: while a ban tries to manage AI by limiting access, she believes the deeper challenge is teaching responsible use—knowing when AI can help and when human judgment must lead.

In practice, that means writing code herself, reserving AI for routine tasks, and keeping it away from the parts of learning that build mastery. It also means designing tools that make complex systems more accessible, without losing accuracy or accountability.

The bigger picture

Raaha sits at the intersection of employability, accessibility, and ethics in AI. It doesn’t promise to replace careful reading or lived experience; instead, it offers a structured way to evaluate job postings through the lens of fit—especially for people whose needs are often overlooked in traditional hiring pipelines. That focus, combined with Tuteja’s measured approach to AI, suggests a path forward for how young technologists can build responsibly.

Her school tried to solve the AI question with a blocklist. She answered with a blueprint: use AI where it helps, keep it out of where it harms, and build tools that give people more clarity and control. Along the way, she’s already launched a platform, started a nonprofit, and helped make the job search a little fairer for those who need it most.