For the first time ever, a “Kid of the Year” has graced the cover of Time Magazine. 

The cover features high school inventor Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old from Colorado, for Time’s December 2020 issue. Rao was selected from over 5,000 nominees for an app she developed dubbed “Kindly” which she said has the power to help social media users think about their actions.

Rao’s artificial intelligence-based app warns social media users that certain words or phrases they are about to use can be harmful, so they can think about their actions before they hurt someone.

“I started to hard-code in some words that could be considered bullying, and then my engine took those words and identified words that are similar,” the teen told actress and activist Angelina Jolie, who interviewed her for Time Magazine. “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. The goal is not to punish.”

She said her inventive process includes observing, brainstorming, research, building, and communicating. 

“I was always someone who wanted to put a smile on someone’s face. That was my everyday goal, just to make someone happy. And it soon turned into, How can we bring positivity and community to the place we live?”

The high schooler plans to use her genius to do more. She’s currently working on an invention that will rid drinking water of contaminants and another that will help people with prescription drug addictions.

“Most of my work with the bio-contaminants is based on a gene-based therapy solution which I’m still trying to figure out. I’m also working on a product that helps to diagnose prescription-­opioid addiction at an early stage based on protein production of the mu opioid receptor gene,” she told Time.

Read Rao’s full interview with Time Magazine. Also read profiles of individuals studying and working in various fields and discover what it’s like to be an engineer on IEEE TryEngineering.