From Business Insider
A new AI-powered tool could revolutionize how lawmakers are held accountable for insider trading
By Madison Hall
A group of California-based graduate students has developed an AI-powered tool to catch congressional insider trading as soon as possible. Though in its infancy, the program could be a revolutionary way for journalists, researchers, and the general public to hold public officials accountable.
For their Fall 2023 master’s capstone project at UC Berkeley, Mats Dodd, Aditya Shah, Jocelyn Thai, and Connor Yen came up with the idea for PoliWatch to see if insider trading is as prevalent of an issue in Congress as many perceive it to be.
“We dug into it and were really disappointed when we found that in the last decade, there’s maybe been twelve successful investigations that have led to anything,” Dodd told Business Insider, adding he believes that congressional ethics committees tend to sweep infractions “under the rug...”
Matthew Dodd, Aditya Shah, Jocelyn Thai, and Connor (Ethan) Yen are the 5th-Year MIDS alums behind the 5th-Year MIDS Capstone Award and Sarukkai Social Impact Award-winning project.
