A computer science junior at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Hari Raghavan, has earned first place in the technology category at the 2026 Santa Cruz Launchpad business competition. His achievement came with a $5,000 prize, awarded for his innovative AI-driven project called Standby, which focuses on improving access to legal assistance for incarcerated individuals and the organizations that support them.
Standby is designed as a phone-based artificial intelligence system that functions as a legal support tool. It allows individuals in correctional facilities to interact with AI-powered voice assistants to receive simplified explanations of legal rights, bail procedures, and criminal charges. The goal is to make complex legal information easier to understand for people who often lack access to traditional legal guidance.
Beyond providing information, the platform also helps users complete intake processes through natural conversations. Their responses are automatically converted into structured transcripts and organized digital forms. These documents are then securely shared with public defenders and reentry-focused nonprofit organizations through a protected dashboard, improving efficiency in case preparation and support services.
The project addresses a significant barrier in the justice system: accessibility. Reports indicate that more than 70% of incarcerated individuals have reading skills below a fourth-grade level, making it difficult for them to understand standard legal documents and paper-based resources. Standby aims to reduce these challenges by replacing lengthy manual interviews and complicated paperwork with an accessible, phone-based conversational system.
The project has received strong recognition from observers in the tech and startup community. A contributor to Good Times, Joshua Logan, described Standby as the standout project of the event and referred to it as a powerful civil rights-focused innovation built on simple, widely available technology. Meanwhile, startup accelerator founder Sol Lipman praised Raghavan’s progress, calling his journey an example of determination and consistent effort in developing impactful solutions.
Raghavan has previously received support from programs such as Pi Fi and UC Santa Cruz’s Slug Tank competition. He plans to use the $5,000 award to expand his development team, improve the platform’s capabilities, and scale its reach to more users and organizations. He is also scheduled to present Standby at the Santa Cruz Works New Tech event on June 4, where he will showcase further progress on the platform’s development and impact.
