“Focus on your goal and work hard to achieve it,” Prachi Sethi answers when asked about her key to success. “Do what needs to be done.”

Last August, Sethi packed her bags in India and stepped foot on the San Francisco Bay University (SFBU) campus, bringing her stellar work ethic with her. As a third-trimester master’s student majoring in Computer Science, Sethi is fascinated by emerging technologies, specifically Generative AI. Her interest piqued after taking SFBU Professor Henry Chang’s popular course, Gen AI: Intelligent Apps and Development.

Sethi and her classmates presented their final project at last Saturday’s Exploring Generative AI event. Ninety-seven participants gathered on campus to learn about the students’ unique projects and network with major industry leaders, including Gangesh Pathak, co-founder of OWOW, a Gen AI-powered software that connects employers to diverse talent. 

“[For our project], we created a real-time support system that is available 24/7 and is in a conversational format,” Sethi explains. While traditional chatbots lack human touch and a flow of conversation, Sethi and her classmates developed a Gen AI-powered system that pushes back on the norm and fine-tunes a set of questions and answers to imitate human-led capabilities. “Our system has text-to-speech, and speech-to-text capabilities, and it has multilingual support for 28 languages.” Championing SFBU’s values of entrepreneurship and accessibility, Sethi and her team accounted for diverse user needs by reducing access and language barriers through Gen AI . 

While Sethi loves Gen AI and serves as President of SFBU’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Club, where she organizes weekly career-building and educational workshops for other Bayhawks, she is far more than that. At SFBU, students are empowered to develop holistically, so they are equipped to transform their lives, careers, and communities for the best. Alongside IEEE, Sethi sharpens her public speaking and impromptu skills as a member of SFBU’s Toastmasters Club. She also loves to sing, play badminton, sketch, and express her emotions through poetry and the ukulele. 

“And I love to travel,” Sethi adds, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “[My last stop was] to Yosemite… it was an impromptu backpacking trip.” Sethi’s sense of adventure moves her to fearlessly explore new places and opportunities in the Bay Area, and it is evident in her career pursuits, too. 

“I want to integrate Gen AI into my work one day,” Sethi explains proudly. “Many people think Gen AI will take away people’s jobs, but I don’t agree. I think it will modify jobs, meaning people will need to adapt.” Sethi knows she must focus and “do what needs to be done” to reach her goals, but she is excited to continually build her skills at SFBU by taking advantage of its diverse resources and extensive network. 

Sethi says, “Gen AI creates new things that might not even exist in real life. The capabilities are [endless].” Her admiration towards Gen AI’s infinite possibilities parallels her own eagerness towards her future. 

“If I had to tell my future self one thing, it’d be to not stress.” Sethi rests her chin on her palm and smiles. “Eventually, things fall into place.” 

These are wise words shared by a student whose persistence, commitment to learning, and optimism shines through in everything she does, on and off campus. As a proud Bayhawk, Sethi looks forward to discovering new breakthroughs in Gen AI and harnessing the power of her SFBU education to become an unprecedented leader in the industry.

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