Introducting Poli, a platform designed the break the cycle of political isolation and misinformation. We recognize that many of us grew up disengaged from politics — often fed one-sided narratives by algorithm-driven news feeds. Thus, we built Poli to provide balanced, factual insights into political content. Using a modern, conversational chatbot interface, users can easily input political texts or speeches and receive analysis on its bias, extremity, subjectivity, and factual accuracy. Our mission is to make political education accessible and help users form well-rounded opinions, paving the way for a more informed, critically engaged society. Looking forward, we aim to expand Poli’s reach globally and enhance the experience with interactive, personalized features for users to deepen their understanding and engagement.
Our inspiration came from questioning how we consumed political content. In a simple experiment, we created two separate accounts on popular news and social media apps, Instagram and TikTok, to see what would happen if we only interacted with one unique side of the political spectrum. The results were stark: each account became a bubble of homogeneous opinions, drastically opposing the views of the other side. Content from either account mirrored the same magnitude of bias. This confirmed our suspicion that politics in algorithm-driven platforms tend to create echo chambers—filtering out diverse viewpoints and leaving users with a one-sided narrative. This spurred us to develop a platform where users can explore political content, ask questions in a judgment-free environment, and gain insights that empower you to form well-rounded opinions about the news and political decisions affecting our communities.
Poli offers a non-intimidating, accessible way for anyone to engage with politics, regardless of their previous level of interest or expertise. The user starts by copy and pasting a snippet from any political article, speech, social media post, or form of opinion. Poli then leverages generative AI, large datasets, and logical reasoning to analyze the content for three indexes: extremity, subjectivity, and accuracy, which it rates out of 10 through analysis of key words and phrases. Poli also notes the keypoints and educational takeaways of the topic related to the text. Our goal is to provide balanced, factual information that allows users to see multiple perspectives. Poli not only educates on the fundamentals of governing bodies and political processes, but also helps users assess whether a text or speech carries any inadvertent bias, ensuring that you’re exposed to both sides of every issue without the interference of skewed algorithms or propaganda.
We built the platform using FastAPI and Python, validating user input using Pydantic models. It processes both plain text and web content using BeautifulSoup and analyzes the input using OpenAI's GPT-3.5 API, which returns structured JSON data including a concise summary, educational insights, and analysis with numerical ratings of the text's tone, bias, and factual accuracy. The API targets specific words and phrases to determine emotional valence and compares information to OpenAI's database. The frontend is built with React and CSS, offering a user-friendly, chat-based interface with features like SVG-based rating circles. As users submit queries, the frontend communicates with the backend through REST API endpoints and the Requests Python Library.
One of our primary struggles was ensuring proper communication between the frontend and backend. As this was our first time working with HTTP requests, we took steps to handle errors and troubleshoot. For instance, we included specific try-catch statements in certain methods in our backend code to find to root of potential issues. We also leveraged Postman to test our API endpoints and simulate requests, enabling us to pinpoint discrepancies in response formats. Another major challenge was figuring out how to source appropriate datasets for comparison. We needed to ensure that the data was relevant and comprehensive as well as unbiased. We also had to consider limitations of certain generative AI APIs and issues with the recency of user queries.
We are proud of our ability to turn a nuanced topic into a user-friendly platform. Politics can often feel overwhelming, especially with the complexity of biases and opinions. By breaking down these complex elements into clear, understandable analyses, we've made it easier for users to navigate political content and form informed opinions. Our intuitive, conversational interface simplifies the learning process so users of all backgorunds can engage with the material and understand all sides of the topic.
Looking ahead, our vision for Poli is to evolve into a comprehensive platform for civic education and expand beyond just the US. We especially plan to bolster the educational experience by adding interactive features and personalized content that further enrich the learning experience, ensuring that users not only stay informed but also become active, critical thinkers in today’s complex political landscape. Poli is more than just an app — it’s a step toward a more balanced, informed society where every individual has the opportunity to see the full picture, free from the limitations of echo chambers and misinformation.