Name: Kashyap Rajesh

Age: 16

Location: Chicago, IL

Organization: Encode Justice

Bio: Kashyap is a 16 year-old high school junior. Recently, Kashyap was named the winner of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, named a 4X Gold Honor Roll Scholar, honored with the Ambassador Award by the United Nations Association of U.S.A, and elected into several local leadership positions. In his community, Kashyap serves as the Lead Peer Juror at the Buffalo Grove Courthouse, on the Illinois State Board of Education Wellness Department, the Diversity and Equity Board, Student Leadership Advisory Council, Student Congress, and works with the local police department to conduct alcohol/tobacco compliance checks in efforts to mitigate teen substance use. However, his activism extends far beyond the grounds of his hometown; Kashyap currently serves as the Global Chapter Director of Encode Justice, an international, youth-led coalition fighting for algorithmic justice. In this role, he spearheads international-level political advocacy initiatives, while growing a 40+ chapter cohort of teen activists globally. To support his efforts for algorithmic accountability, Kashyap serves on the NAACP AI Equity Subcommittee, as part of the AI Human Rights Working Group, where he has heavily contributed to the publication of a 200+ page report regarding the intersection of human rights and Artificial Intelligence, and is currently conducting research regarding the physical implications of biased technology, at the Harvard University Digital BLM Lab. All in all, Kashyap is a passionate civics enthusiast who channels his passion into serving his community in a variety of ways.

1. What is your understanding of your "purpose" and how do you think it might evolve over time?

From a young age, I was confident in one thing: I wanted to leave a mark on the world. What this mark is, I’m still not sure. However, there has always been one guiding question in the work I do: How will this help those around me? This question helped me identify my purpose - I wanted to help others in whatever way was most feasible. As I began involving myself in grassroots activism and community organizing through small efforts, I realized that one teenager like me can’t necessarily have a substantial impact on a global scale. So, I decided to tackle smaller issues in the community. For instance, I realized that the technology that has surrounded me all my life isn’t always objective, neutral, or ethical. Thus, I chose to tackle the issue of algorithmic injustice, and how we can collectively work to reimagine what digital fairness means. By doing so, I ensured that by resolving these specific issues in whichever way I can, I’m ultimately having a fairly large impact on the world.

2. Why do you do the work you do? What impact do you hope to create?

The work I do is inspired by the countless individuals who have already been impacted by the adverse effects of technology. There have already been 3+ reported false incarcerations of people of color at the hands of unfair digital systems. For that reason, I decided to pursue initiatives such as algorithmic accountability, so that individuals aren’t fooled by the seemingly objective technology that surrounds them. I hope that as a result of my efforts, that one day, future generations will experience technology in a way that doesn’t interfere with their privacy and civil rights and ultimately alters the current stigma regarding technology being extremely fair and accurate.

3. How has your heritage shaped who you are and how you show up in the world?

My heritage and culture specifically fueled my interest in DEI efforts because as an Indian-American myself, my privacy and civil rights were disproportionately more at risk to the threats posed by technology. As the concept of digital fairness surrounded me, my fight and motivation was powered by the millions of ethnic minorities and families who weren’t being proportionally represented in the data that fed algorithms, leading to inaccuracies within the algorithms. Everyday, we already see thousands of ethnic constituents who are unfairly treated and who don’t have a voice. Such technologies only intensified these key racial issues, by plaguing human decision making and even the seemingly impenetrable, objective mathematical formulae that defined artificial intelligence. To eliminate the racial inequities that these algorithms highlighted, I worked to educate the school community about the harms of AI and promote awareness to governmental officials to minimize the risk of such technologies. Ultimately, my heritage has also inspired me to help Co-Found Youth DEI Collaborative, an international network of organizations and activists fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

4. What have you learned from any professional or personal challenge(s) or failure(s) that you have experienced in your life?

Throughout my high school journey, one thing has become clear: youth “engagement” isn’t enough. Currently, many adults believe that by simply engaging youth, they are fulfilling their duties in interacting with the next generation of leaders and activists. However, they fail to realize that youth engagement does NOT equal youth involvement. These two terms often get mixed up; engagement is to accept the presence of the youth, whereas, involvement is to provide youth with decision making power and hand them the ability to not only speak their voices, but to actually have a seat at the decision making table. Personally, in my efforts to promote DEI efforts in my community, I realized that often times adults don't believe or trust in the ability of teenagers to be mature decision-makers. As a result, they miss out on an important voice of a group that has unique experiences: Generation Z. By doing so, lots of policy that is passed by state boards, and often government, doesn’t consider the implications on teenagers. Consequently, a lot of my work has been deemed invalid or vain simply because of my age. From these personal failures, it's become clear that adults should begin to involve youth and teenagers in decision making rather than simply “engaging” them.

5. What do you think today's youth has to look forward to?

Today’s youth has repeatedly been defined as a group valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion. With DEI at the forefront of their everyday lives, Generation Z has been constantly reminded of the importance of activism, community mobilization, and service. More importantly, it’s important to recognize that today’s youth is the most technologically literate and experienced. Gen Z should be reminded that while technology has revolutionized everyday practices, simplifying daily routines, it’s equally important to recognize the concerns of security, privacy, and safety that tag along. I’m optimistic that as long as our generation continues to fight for what we believe in, champions innovation, and practices righteousness, our future will be defined as an era of equity and unity.