“Grandparents once held our hands to teach us how to walk. Now it’s our turn to guide them through the digital world.” That thought stays close to the heart of Tejasvi Manoj, a 16-year-old American student of Indian origin. She is building an AI-powered app that could shield senior citizens from online scams. Like Siddharth Nandyala, another Indian-origin teen CEO who developed an AI tool to detect heart disease in seconds, Tejasvi is part of a new wave of Indian-origin youth using artificial intelligence to solve meaningful, real-world problems.
A high schooler in Texas, Tejasvi one day found out that her 85-year-old grandfather had almost fallen for an online scam. He received a message urgently requesting a money transfer. It was a clear phishing attempt, full of suspicious wording and pressure tactics. Tejasvi was surprised that her grandfather was not able to recognize it as fraudulent even though it was immediately obvious to her and her parents.
This incident brought to her notice a huge gap that no one was talking about. While Gen-Z students like her are taught cyber safety in school, and adults often get trained at work, most older people are left to figure it out on their own. She started researching and found the numbers were worse than she imagined.
Tejasvi discovered that nearly 75% of adults over 65 didn’t understand basic cybersecurity practices like two-factor authentication. In 2024 alone, cybercriminals stole over $3 billion from older adults in the US, an average of $33,915 per person, yet only one in five victims reported the crime to authorities. Many victims had no idea how to protect themselves or whom to ask for help.
With the problem clear in her mind, Tejasvi started building Shield Seniors, an AI-powered platform to help senior citizens stay safe online. The idea was simple: provide easy-to-understand tools and guidance to prevent the elderly population from stepping into digital traps. She has strong support from her parents, both software engineers who moved to the US from India in the early 2000s.
As a second-generation immigrant born in California, Tejasvi discovered her love for coding in middle school through programs like “Girls Who Code”. That early spark soon turned into a purpose when she went on to develop a working prototype of Shield Seniors that helps older adults learn basic cybersecurity measures and identify easily whether a message they receive is legitimate or a potential scam.
Shield Seniors, now in its demo stage, offers four main features. The Learn section offers easy, jargon-free information on staying safe online and spotting scams. If users come across a suspicious email, message, or website, they can turn to the Ask feature and get quick answers from the chatbot. The Analyze tool lets them upload screenshots of messages, which the AI reviews to flag anything unsafe. And in the Help section, step-by-step guides and FAQs walk users through everything they need to know.
She spent her free time exploring online tutorials and YouTube videos, teaching herself how to build and train AI models. She tested different tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and even switched to open-source models to keep costs down. Now in 11th grade at Lebanon Trail High School, Tejasvi has a big goal – she wants this app to be on every senior citizen’s phone once it’s fully launched.
As Tejasvi continues to develop the app, she regularly shares updated versions with older adults in her community. She listens closely to their feedback, noting what works and what doesn’t. Their suggestions led her to simplify the interface, enlarge buttons and fonts, and make the instructions clearer. Every change she makes is guided by real conversations with seniors, ensuring the app truly meets their needs.
Even though her app is still in the demo stage, Tejasvi received an Honorable Mention in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge. She also presented her work to AARP, the country’s largest nonprofit focused on supporting people aged 50 and older. She was even introduced to entrepreneurial TV shows like Shark Tank. Her project has been featured in several global NRI publications, including Travel Beats.
Her grandfather, the inspiration behind it all, passed away in January. For Tejasvi Manoj, Shield Seniors is both a tribute to him and a promise to protect others like him. As a second-generation Indian American, she sees it as her way of giving back to senior citizens across the world, including in the US and India. In a country where five millions of Indian-origin families have made their home, stories like hers are quietly shaping a better future.
