Teenage inventor named TIME magazine’s ‘Kid of the Year’

Gitanjali's cyber-bullying app uses AI to detect abusive language patterns

Credit: PA

A teenage scientist whose inventions include an app capable of detecting and discouraging cyberbullying has been named TIME magazine’s first-ever "kid of the year".

Gitanjali Rao, 15, was one of 5,000 nominees considered for the accolade which was inspired by the magazine having named 16-year-old environmentalist Greta Thunberg as its person of the year in 2019.

The Colorado teenager’s fascination with science began when an uncle gave her a chemistry set when she was only four or five years old.

"I am a very curious person, if that’s one thing you need to know about me," she told TIME. "I cannot see a world filled with kindness without science and technology being involved."

"I don’t look like your typical scientist. Everything I see on TV is that it’s an older, usually white man as a scientist." Recently she has turned her attention to cyberbullying, with statistics showing that one in three students are victims every day.

She has devised a phone app and browser extension known as Kindly. It uses artificial intelligence to scan messages before they are sent and warn people that they could be accused of bullying.

"You type in a word or phrase, and it’s able to pick it up if it’s bullying, and it gives you the option to edit it or send it the way it is," she explained.

"As a teenager, I know teenagers tend to lash out sometimes. Instead, it gives you the chance to rethink what you’re saying so that you know what to do next time around."

Angered by the scandal of contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, Gitanjali came up with TETHYS, which not only detects lead but sends a notification to a mobile phone using an app she created.

It relies on a sensor which can be put into the water which is capable of detecting chemical changes.

"It was so unacceptable that kids of my age were drinking poison every day. I realised something needed to be done to solve that problem."

Gitanjali has also mentored 30,000 students who want to follow in her footsteps.

"I have been wanting to change the world and hopefully I am changing the world."