UC Student Wins Prize With AI Legal Platform
UC Santa Cruz student Hari Raghavan won first place in a business competition for his AI platform Standby, which helps incarcerated individuals understand legal rights.Summary
Hari Raghavan, a computer science junior at the University of California, Santa Cruz, secured first place in the technology category of the 2026 Santa Cruz Launchpad business competition, earning a $5,000 prize for his innovative AI-driven project called Standby. The platform is designed as a phone-based artificial intelligence system that functions as a legal support tool, allowing individuals in correctional facilities to interact with AI-powered voice assistants to receive simplified explanations of legal rights, bail procedures, and criminal charges. Beyond providing information, Standby helps users complete intake processes through natural conversations, automatically converting their responses into structured transcripts and organized digital forms that are securely shared with public defenders and reentry-focused nonprofit organizations. The project addresses a significant barrier in the justice system by improving accessibility for incarcerated individuals, many of whom have reading skills below a fourth-grade level. The initiative has received strong recognition from the tech and startup community, with observers praising it as a powerful civil rights-focused innovation. Raghavan plans to use the award to expand his development team and scale the platform's reach, and he is scheduled to present Standby at the Santa Cruz Works New Tech event on June 4.
(Source：Global Indian News Network -)