Autistic Innovators Build 5-Minute AI Tool for Autism

Four autistic innovators lean over a screen, adjusting code that could change thousands of children's lives. They're building something they once needed themselves: a way to detect autism early, quickly, and affordably.

Neurolens by Gabify started with a painful memory. Sahil Chopra, 31, lost a close friend to suicide after years of bullying for his speech differences. The tragedy happened just ten days before their board exams, and the question stayed with him for years: what if help had come sooner?

Life moved forward. Sahil built a career in law and investment banking, but the question never left. Then he met Prachi, a speech therapist with over ten years of experience at hospitals across Delhi. She saw the same heartbreaking pattern every day: children arriving far too late for early intervention.

The problem wasn't just awareness. Assessments took months, cost thousands of rupees, and required multiple hospital visits. Families in smaller cities often had no access at all. In 2023, Sahil invested his entire savings into building a solution.

He found four autistic innovators who brought something irreplaceable to the project: lived experience. Vasyl Leshchuk, Seymour Verdi, Kanak Kadulkar, and Aniket Gupta helped shape Neurolens from their intuitive understanding of neurodiversity. They knew what families needed because they had lived it.

The result screens children for autism and speech disorders in just five minutes. Screenings start at Rs 499, with subsidized access for schools, NGOs, and village childcare centers. For many parents, those five minutes replace months of waiting and uncertainty.

The platform launched in 2024 and has already supported over 2,500 children across India. Families discover it through therapist referrals, school partnerships, and word of mouth from other parents who finally got answers.

The Ripple Effect

Neurolens isn't just detecting autism earlier. It's creating inclusive employment by actively hiring neurodivergent team members with flexible work structures. The company values lived experience and skill as much as formal credentials, proving that neurodiversity drives innovation.

Therapists and clinicians now use the AI insights to guide assessments and plan therapy faster. Schools in tier 2 and tier 3 cities have access to screening tools they never had before. Every early detection opens a door that might have stayed closed.

Sahil never imagined something like Gabify could exist when he lost his friend all those years ago. Today, it's giving families something precious: the gift of time to help their children sooner.