Polaris AI: Your North Star for Local Politics wins Rep. Harriet Hageman’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Wyoming’s At-Large District

When asked what inspired the creation of Polaris AI: Your North Star for Local Politics, the students said, “Our inspiration for PolarisAI came from a personal frustration that we experienced during the Congressional election cycle. We encountered countless citizens who expressed concern about government decisions but never actually participated directly in politics and influenced those decisions. This was mainly focused through local elections and voting: although many people are somewhat informed on the Presidential election, aside from that, most people do not attempt to understand local politics. But it is not their fault: reading 500-page PDFs written like legal contracts is difficult and incredibly time-consuming for the average American. Although there are online tools that help citizens understand bills, most come with strings attached; sources are politically driven, and at times, a harsh oversimplification of a very detailed piece of legislation.

“Our research revealed the scope of this large problem: Congress.gov hosts over 18,000 bills per session, written in dense and opaque language, averaging over 25 pages each. Traditional news coverage is not only partisan but also focuses on perhaps 1% of legislation.

“We had a breakthrough when we realized that artificial intelligence could serve as a translational layer between citizens and complex legislative issues. More importantly, it could personalize that translation based on individual circumstances; a policy would impact a rural farmer much differently than an urban businessman.

“Thus, we chose the name “PolarisAI.” For all of human time, the North Star, also known as Polaris, has guided sailors and travelers regardless of their path or destination. Similar to the North Star, this platform provides reliable navigation through the complex landscape of congressional politics without any agenda.

“What drives us is the core idea that democracy works best when citizens have a genuine understanding of politics rather than one derived from ideas forced on them by an algorithm or another person. Uninformed polarization corrodes a democracy, but informed disagreement strengthens a democracy through discourse. Every time someone uses PolarisAI to understand legislation, our country moves a little bit closer to a more informed citizenry, the informed citizenry that our democratic system needs.”