Google engineer rejected by 16 faculties makes use of AI to sue universities for racial discrimination

SAN FRANCISCO — A father in Palo Alto, California, who has filed a number of lawsuits in opposition to main college methods over his son’s school rejections, says synthetic intelligence has grow to be the important thing to pursuing the circumstances after no regulation agency agreed to symbolize them.

The authorized combat stems from a 2023 story by our sister station ABC7 Information in San Francisco about Stanley Zhong, a then 18-year-old Gunn Excessive College pupil with a 4.4 GPA and a near-perfect 1590 SAT rating who was rejected by 16 out of the 18 faculties he utilized to. Regardless of the rejections, he was later employed as a software program engineer at Google.

Two and a half years later, his father, Nan Zhong, says the household stays satisfied racial discrimination performed a job in these selections. He spoke completely with ABC7 Information anchor Kristen Sze.

Zhong stated Stanley, now 20, is pleased and doing nicely in his job at Google. “In 2025, he acquired an impressive affect efficiency score, which is larger than majority of the Google engineers,” he stated.

Zhong stated the household spent a 12 months in discussions with College of California officers after Stanley’s rejections, however nothing modified. He stated the turning level got here when a UC admissions director emailed him, writing that his allegation of racial discrimination was unfounded as a result of California regulation bans the observe.

“Once I obtained that line, I stored scratching my head,” Zhong stated. “They’re saying there can’t be any noncompliance if there is a regulation banning it, however we’re precisely accusing them of breaking the regulation secretly. So that’s the level the place I spotted there’s nothing we will obtain by having a dialog with them.”

Zhong stated conversations with state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom additionally went nowhere, prompting the household to sue the College of California, the College of Washington, the College of Michigan and Cornell College.

He stated they struggled to search out authorized illustration. “We have been speaking to native regulation companies, nationwide regulation companies. By my account, we most likely talked to dozens of authorized organizations and regulation companies. None of them took it,” Zhong stated. With statutes of limitation approaching, he stated the household determined to symbolize themselves.

“In fact, being anyone with no authorized expertise in any respect, we naturally turned to AI,” he stated. “It turned out to be a boon that we by no means anticipated to be so efficient.”

Zhong stated they use a number of AI fashions concurrently to research authorized questions, examine solutions and stop errors. “It is like having a group of deep attorneys, high attorneys, all working for you,” he stated.

He pointed to a current ruling within the College of Washington case, the place a choose rejected the college’s movement to remain the case. Zhong stated the choice underscored a problem in bringing admissions lawsuits: college students usually lose authorized standing as soon as they attain their junior 12 months of faculty.

“Right here, Stanley has a novel benefit. He is not going to school but. He might go at any time,” Zhong stated. “So, in some methods, he has evergreen authorized standing that permits us to deliver the lawsuit.”

Zhong stated the broader admissions panorama has shifted since Stanley’s rejections, citing the Supreme Court docket’s ruling banning affirmative motion within the Harvard case and elevated scrutiny of elite universities. He stated the household has spent important private funds and continues to pursue the circumstances as a result of they imagine the problems lengthen past their son. They’ve launched a nonprofit, SWORD, College students Who Oppose Racial Discrimination, to advance their trigger. They usually have acquired some monetary assist by means of GoFundMe.

“We expect we’ve a novel benefit, and we do not need to let that go,” he stated.