Miss Teen Universe Singapore Riona Krishnan Dighe on AI, pageantry and refusing to fit into one box

“AI researcher” and “pageant queen” are not exactly two titles you expect to see side by side on the same résumé. But for 18-year-old Riona Krishnan Dighe, they make more sense together than you might think.

The newly crowned Miss Teen Universe Singapore 2026 has interests that stretch far beyond the runway. Her research uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to explore Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) framework, work that was published in the International Journal of High School Research in 2024.

The idea, she explains, was not to get artificial intelligence to determine what happiness means, but to explore whether it could make gathering data more efficient and give leaders another way to understand the communities they serve.

At the same time, Riona has pursued fashion and pageantry alongside her academics, something that has occasionally led others to underestimate her.

But rather than seeing her interests as competing identities, she believes they complement one another.

“I’ve always been very curious and passionate about learning about things that interest me, especially when that knowledge can give people a different perspective or potentially help others,” she says. “My research in AI came from that curiosity, and pageantry gives me a platform to take those interests and ideas to a much wider audience.”

Using AI to understand happiness

Riona’s interest in GNH began long before her research did. Having visited Bhutan from a young age, she recalls learning about the country’s approach to happiness as a measure of wellbeing and wondering how something so subjective could be studied on a larger scale.

Later, while studying AI with mentors from Stanford, she began considering whether NLP could complement traditional GNH surveys, which can be time-consuming and expensive to conduct.

Her work would eventually take her beyond the classroom. During a visit to Bhutan, Riona presented her research to the Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies, high school students in Thimphu and His Majesty The King of Bhutan at Lingkana Palace.

It was there that she encountered a question that changed the way she approached her work: could conclusions drawn from English-language social media truly represent Bhutan’s wider population, particularly people living in rural communities?

“That moment was a turning point,” she says. “It made me realise that good research isn’t just about having data, but about making sure the people behind that data are represented.”

The experience made her more conscious not only of who appears in a dataset, but who might be missing from it.

AI should help us think, not think for us

As conversations around AI become increasingly centred on what the technology can do, Riona is equally interested in what humans should continue doing for themselves.

For her, “human-centric AI” means technology that empowers people rather than replacing the qualities that make them human.

AI may be able to process enormous amounts of information and automate repetitive tasks, she says, but it should not replace “our critical thinking, judgement, creativity, empathy or human connection”.

And as access to AI becomes increasingly widespread, those human qualities could become even more important.

“If everyone has the same technology, what will really set us apart is our ability to think for ourselves, connect with people and bring our own perspective to the table,” she says.

The question she believes her generation should be asking is a simple but important one: “Is AI helping me think better, or is it starting to think for me?”

‘You shouldn’t have to look like someone’s idea of a scientist’

Being interested in both AI and pageantry has also placed Riona at the intersection of two spaces where appearances can come with assumptions.

When she began participating in fashion shows and pageants, she says some people assumed she would take a gap year or step away from her studies. Instead, she was studying for her A Levels as a boarding student at Cheltenham Ladies’ College while continuing her AI research outside school hours.

“There is still a stereotype that if a young woman is interested in fashion or pageantry, she somehow cannot be equally serious about academics,” she says.

Rather than choosing which side of herself she wants people to take seriously, Riona rejects the idea that she has to choose at all.

“I’ve never felt that I should have to fit into one box,” she says. “Being passionate about one thing doesn’t take away from how seriously I can take another.”

And perhaps more importantly: “You shouldn’t have to look like someone’s idea of a scientist to be taken seriously as one.”

Where AI and beauty collide

Her experience across technology, fashion and pageantry also gives Riona an interesting perspective on AI’s growing influence on beauty.

From AI-generated models to heavily manipulated imagery, the technology is already changing what we see online. While Riona believes AI can create new possibilities for the fashion and beauty industries, she is wary of allowing it to replace the people and individuality behind them.

“When everything online becomes heavily filtered or AI-generated, there’s a risk that beauty starts to look too similar and loses some of the personality and individuality that makes it interesting,” she says.

For Riona, fashion is ultimately a form of expression, while pageantry extends beyond appearance to individuality, human connection and having a voice. The goal, she says, should be to use technology to support creativity while continuing to celebrate what makes people different.

A future that doesn’t require choosing one path

At 18, Riona is not pretending to have her entire career mapped out. She is preparing to start at UCL and expects AI and research to remain part of her journey, particularly where technology can create meaningful human and social impact. But she also intends to continue exploring opportunities in fashion and pageantry.

“For me, the future isn’t about choosing one path,” she says. “It’s about staying curious, embracing every opportunity and hopefully using what I learn to make a meaningful impact along the way.”

It is an approach that feels particularly relevant to a generation entering a working world where careers are becoming increasingly less linear. Rather than forcing seemingly disparate interests into separate boxes, Riona sees the possibility of building a career that makes room for all of them.

But as she represents Singapore at Miss Teen Universe, there is one part of herself she hopes will not get lost among the crowns, runway photographs and achievements: her commitment to giving back.

Having worked with children and supported education from a young age, Riona says those experiences taught her that “talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t”.

“Philanthropy isn’t something that began with a crown, and it won’t end when I no longer have one,” she says. “A crown can open doors, but what matters is how you use it to open doors for others.”

And whether her future platform comes from pageantry, fashion, research, business or something she has yet to discover, that is one thing she already knows she wants to take with her.