Inspect wins Rep. Stephen Lynch’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’ Eighth District
Rep. Stephen Lynch has named Isaac Wu and Santiago Cofiño of Milton Academy as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’s Eighth District. Their app Inspect mirrors real internet content through interactive gameplay, teaching users how to detect AI-generated disinformation.
When asked what inspired the creation of Inspect, the students said, “Democracy needs truth. The rise of online disinformation, exacerbated by AI, threatens the very foundation of our nation.
“With political extremism at an all-time high, false and biased content polarize people’s beliefs. Around the 2024 presidential election and the recent death of Charlie Kirk, we saw many of our friends turn to short-form media for their news. While some watched shorts from reliable organizations, many turned to independent and unverified content creators for their information. One time, a friend talked to us about AI, gave coherent points for his argument, but then presented a completely made-up statistic as his justification. When we asked for his source, he smiled in realization, saying, ‘Instagram reels,’ a short-form video platform. This trend goes beyond our classmates; people across the world are increasingly turning to online influencers, often with a political agenda, for their news.
“Now, AI video generators such as Sora 2 and Veo 3.1 are flooding the internet with disinformation, which we’ve personally seen in our feeds. The sudden rise of these generators necessitates our nation be able to detect falsehood.
“If people could better detect disinformation, their votes and opinions would represent thoughts based on truth rather than built upon pillars of nonsense. Inspect teaches people how to distinguish truth from falsehood through interactive, real-world challenges. It protects the truth that democracy rests upon.”
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program. A total of 394 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history. More than 13,800 students from across the country participated, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and winning teams are invited to showcase their projects to Members of Congress, staff, and industry leaders at the annual #HouseOfCode celebration on Capitol Hill.
The Challenge is proudly bipartisan and reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to STEM education and preparing the next generation of American innovators for the future workforce. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Infosys Foundation USA, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.