THE
HOPE
PROJECT
I’m Kayla — a student, a researcher, and a believer in fairness.
As I witnessed different lives, one truth became clear:
Some problems require more than knowledge.
They call for conscience, courage, and responsibility.
AItoHope is the journey where these three meet.
🎓 About Me
I Build AI for the Unseen, the Underserved, the Forgotten
I Build AI for the Unseen, the Underserved, the ForgottenHi, I’m Kayla Doğa Karakaya.
I was born in the United States in 2008 and raised in Istanbul.
I currently study at Üsküdar American Academy and have been attending BİLSEM (Science and Art Center for gifted students) since the 4th grade.
I’ve never defined myself simply as a “successful student.”
Because I’ve always been more interested in who gets to learn than in what I personally know.
My interest in artificial intelligence deepened this awareness.
I asked myself a simple but urgent question:
“If this technology will shape our future, why isn’t it equally accessible to everyone?”
My journey didn’t begin with writing code —
It began with wondering whose life that code could change.
📚 My Educational Journey
For me, education has never been just about preparing for exams or getting the highest grades.
What truly matters is how we use what we learn — and who we use it for.
When I was still a child, I was attending BİLSEM, a center for gifted students selected through nationwide exams. One year, those of us who scored the highest IQ points were invited to a special camp held on a university campus. Around 100–150 children came from all over Türkiye, and we spent a full week together. Each student was brilliant and talented in their own unique way.
But during our late-night conversations in the dorms, I learned that some were facing serious financial hardship. Others spoke about family struggles I couldn’t stop thinking about. I remember how deeply it affected me.
“What kind of world would it be if everyone had equal opportunities?”
That question stayed with me.
And that day, I made a quiet promise to myself:
“If I ever learn something meaningful, I will share it.”
That promise became the starting point of a learning journey that I’ve continued ever since — always searching for opportunities to grow across different fields:
NASA Space Center Houston: Attending this camp as a young child deepened my love for science and gave me the courage to think without limits.
University of Texas at Dallas – AI Program: I completed a 9-week college-level course in artificial intelligence and worked on real projects, gaining deep insight into the fundamentals of AI.
Kadir Has University – Courses:
Neuroscience and Brain Science, Chaos Theory, Complex Systems, and Control
Bilge Adam Academy: I completed a 200-hour training program in Python and web development, building a strong foundation in programming.
BİLSEM (Science and Art Center): Since 4th grade, I’ve been actively involved in this institution — developing original projects in physics, math, and computer science through research-based learning.
Each of these experiences didn’t just help me gain knowledge; they inspired me to transform what I learned into projects that serve others.
Over time, those projects became pathways — not just to understand the world better, but to make what I learn reach beyond myself
🌍 Turning What I Learn Into Shared Meaning
Education has never been just about personal success for me.
At the heart of my journey, there’s always been one question:
“Who else could this knowledge possibly reach?”
That’s why I’ve spent years not only learning — but also building ways to share what I learn with others.
- 📘 I wrote a book that explains artificial intelligence to young learners, because I believe this technology should not be a privilege — it should be a right.
- 🔬 I developed research projects focused on ethics, sustainability, and transparency, because science should not only be technical — it must also be socially responsible.
🌱 Why I Created AItoHope
I never started my journey with a piece of code. I started it with a question:
“If artificial intelligence is shaping the world, why is it still so out of reach for so many?”
That question stayed with me, especially after seeing how gifted students across Türkiye lacked access to the same resources I had. I didn’t want to be the only one learning these things. I wanted to share what I was learning — and make sure it reached beyond my own world.
That’s why I created AItoHope. It’s not just a website, or a book, or a project. It’s a growing movement — built on a simple belief:
Knowledge should never stay where it’s born. It should go where it’s needed most.
To me, AI isn’t just Artificial Intelligence. It also means Access & Inclusion. And if even one student in a rural school learns something from this — then it was all worth it.
✨ My Vision for the Future
I don’t just want to prepare for the future — I want to help others enter it with hope.
Because I believe that no one can be truly happy while others are suffering.
And no success feels real when inequality surrounds you.
That’s why I see artificial intelligence not as a tool of power, but as a path to equity, dignity, and healing. It can detect diseases before symptoms appear. It can simulate life-saving solutions in seconds. It can solve problems once thought impossible.
But for that to happen, AI must be shaped by people who are ethical, empathetic, and brave. Even if I’m not the one who builds that future —
maybe someone I inspired will be.
And even if it touches just one life — if it changes the future of one child — then it was worth everything.
Because sometimes, all it takes is throwing one starfish back into the sea.
And I want to be the kind of person who does exactly that.
