WORKS
Microsoft
Designing an AI companion for survivors of sexual violence
Category: Responsible AI / Trust & Safety
Delivery: Website + AI companion (chatbot)
Role: Founder / AI Product Design / Research / Partnerships
Launched June 2025
BACKGROUND
Beyond Believed is an independent Social Purpose Foundation I founded to explore a difficult question: what would it look like for technology to show up for survivors of sexual violence in a way that is validating, trauma‑informed, and actually useful — without pretending to replace human care?
HUMAN TRUTH
Sexual assault survivors are often not believed — by friends, partners, families, institutions. Many never report at all because they expect to be doubted, blamed, or minimized. We have decades of evidence that humans struggle with empathy for this kind of harm and default to victim-blaming narratives instead of listening.
What if we deliberately built an AI-supported experience whose first job is to validate your experience? To believe that what happened was real and wrong, to reflect your reality back to you, and then, crucially, knows when to step out of the loop to bring in real human help and expertise?
CONTRIBUTIONS
I approached this as both strategic research and a technological safety viewpoint expanding my knowledge on, trauma psychology, trust and safety design with AI.
Using those insights, I designed core interaction patterns for the companion: how it greets someone, how it responds to disclosures, what it never says, and how it handles uncertainty or risk. A major focus was on developing the LLM working prompt. I worked through multiple iterations of conversational flows to avoid blame, reduce pressure, and clearly signal autonomy (“here are some options if and when you want them”) rather than urgency or judgment. I also explored how to surface information about reporting, evidence, and care in a way that was specific and accurate without becoming clinical or overwhelming.
A 3x Anthem Award–winning approach to survivor care.
RESULTS
The first step to supporting survivors is believing their story.
Here, you are beyond believed.
Growing referral network of legal and therapeutic partners.
Built for the 443,000+ people who experience sexual violence in the U.S. each year — most of whom are never believed or supported. (Source: RAINN)
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