LegiSum - Legislation Summarized

Activating at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, public policy, and AI governance, Maria-Luiza Popescu is a social impact executive consultant passionate about civic technology in safeguarding the tenets of democracy. A native of Romania born upon the downfall of an oppressive regime, Maria-Luiza has embraced an interdisciplinary maximizer mindset to build her networks of expertise and inspiration, eventually leading to her consulting business balancing innovation with making a difference. She currently serves as a Clinton Foundation Alumni Ambassador, leads the AI Native internal engagement strategy at Liveperson, and works with global clients in maximizing their innovation while benefitting societal segments. Maria-Luiza previously worked in the Editorial Policy and Publications team of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. during her University of Texas System Bill Archer Academic Fellowship, was on the National Advisory Board for the American Association of University Women, and is a proud UT Dallas alumna. 

Legislation impacts all activity sectors, from individuals to academia, to businesses small and large, and beyond. What is often presented as digestible information can be incomplete, misunderstood, or carrying biases. Furthermore, the decreasing attention span of the average voter is perpetually divided between complex, purposely labyrinthine, and conflicting information. LegiSum would be the solution in the form of an easy-to-use platform tracking, analyzing, and summarizing legislative pieces. It would thus provide a digestible path to knowing the fundamentals of a bill and its impact to different user categories. Inspired by Sumly’s capability of aggregating and summarizing news fitting one’s mobile device screen, LegiSum would offer users an AI-powered palatable and automation-friendly legislative knowledge with a click. In addition, it would alert users to completely unrelated amendments furtively introduced by analyzing keywords and comparing them to the lexical field of the initial bill.

Democracy is at a particularly critical juncture in humanity's history, with information purposely misinterpreted, made unnecessarily complex, and obfuscated by jargon clouding the ever-narrowing voters and viewers' attention spans. This issue is not simply US-centric, but globally valid, with media-delivered soundbites being largely depended on to deliver critical messages. How can democracy continue being functional when labyrinthine information is purposely made even more so, when unrelated, yet creepingly dangerous amendments are furtively introduced by cunning legislators, and the limited time and attention span of voters skew their participation often ending in apathy? 

A slew of legislative amendments that completely alter a bill’s initial subject matter (as it often happens) can end up casting a wide net of consequences over individuals and entities that may have never thought would be affected. ‘Who is even reading that entire bill?’ is perhaps a phrase we all heard or are guilty of having uttered. With good reason too, as not everyone has the time or inclination to digest anywhere from 20-something to two hundred-something pages of mind-numbing text. LegiSum would streamline legislation by keywords, locations, and other user-set preferences using natural language processing, as well as tracking unrelated amendments with real-time alerts. 

LegiSum is an easy-to-use application platform tracking, analyzing, and summarizing legislative pieces. It would thus provide a digestible path to knowing the fundamentals of a bill and its impact (the unexpected one too!) to individuals, non-profits, companies, and...virtually anyone who has or will ever be affected by laws. Inspired by Sumly’s capability of aggregating and summarizing news fitting one’s mobile device screen, LegiSum would offer users a palatable and automation-friendly legislative knowledge with a click. In addition, it would alert users to completely unrelated amendments furtively introduced by analyzing keywords and comparing them to the lexical field of the initial bill. 

The platform is set to track any level and type of legislation feeding from its public database. The bills would be trackable by keywords, sector they are focusing on (e.g. Education, gun control, labor etc.), number, committee, and legislator who introduced them. A click would allow the summary of the full presented text, with the highlighted option of tracking amendments and alerting unrelated keywords for that particular bill. A real-time ‘ticker’ would show all updates, and all trackings would automatically save in the user’s account. It could be used in any system with digitized legislation. 

LegiSum serves to address the information asymmetry between community segments on issues affecting them, from the most local levels to federal and beyond US borders. It would be a continuously improved user-friendly platform customizable by user type (individual, youth, academic, non-profit, business), and would feature regular market research and UX co-design sessions with segments to gather feedback for needed changes. LegiSum would outreach to diverse communities and organizations working closely with them to understand and incorporate different needs. With the ubiquity of smartphones, the app would provide summarization straight from the source, in natural language, unbiased, and pertinent to the user's interests. The platform would expand globally as well, working with citizen organizations to leverage their culturally informed insights into developing regionally relevant products. 

The focus of my project, scope of it, and targeted demographics at this crucial juncture in the trajectory of democracies worldwide are fully aligned with the resources offered by the Elevate Prize, primarily through the technical and expertise networks and media exposure it would provide. AI-powered civic technology where humans work in concert with streamlined AI information is the next step in solving civic information asymmetry. Access to information isn't enough in itself, if it is not presented in relevant, palatable manners that do not detract from the essence presented with political and ideological bias. 

Having worked in political communications strategy at the local, non-profit, and federal level, it had become evident to me that information asymmetry among communities was an issue insurmountable by the mere presence of information through smartphones. I had been well acquainted with strategically manipulated soundbites through carefully curated focus groups and crafting words that work with audiences, and the AI revolution alongside the desire of people to hear about legislation in simple terms galvanized my desire to act on this. I have been communications-inclined my entire life, and through my social impact consulting practice worked with AI companies, including my current engagement with Liveperson. In 2015, I took the plunge with a first draft of the idea at an international app competition, and placed in the top 10. The concept had significant interest, but I was not positioned at the time in the context to proceed full-on with a startup due to my visa status, nor was the company sufficiently prepared to fully develop this concept. Thus, I put it on the backburner with the commitment to return to it when better aligned. 

Born and raised in freshly post-communist Romania (thus in a Romanian democracy literally as old as myself), I have perpetually been enamored with the intricacies of markets and the dynamics of power. Upon growing up exposed to the best (and the worst) of American pop culture and politics, what better way to explore democracy with a Tocquevillian curiosity than on the home front of the oldest functional democratic society? 

In the midst of pursuing the exploring opportunities in the U.S. political realm, I have always been content and scholarly vying for more. Legislative convolution never intimidated me -- as an academic. After graduation, however, it became increasingly evident that the same could not be said for the average voter bombarded every second of their attention span with complex, confusing, and often conflicting information. What is often presented as digestible information can be incomplete, misunderstood, or carrying biases. The more I explored the rich tapestry of the American electorate, the better acquainted I became with the manipulation technics (and those behind them themselves) and the information asymmetry that made it all possible in the first place, and I became resolute in finding a solution that uses ubiquitous technology. 

I am currently immersed in an AI company with connections on AI governance, ethics, investors, and civic technology experts amassed over the years of my professional development. In my social impact consulting endeavor, I undertook several global focus groups and co-designing sessions with a rich variety of global demographics, bringing forward their insights to developing compelling strategies, products, and communications. I worked with internal and external communications of the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama Administration, for non-profits (World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, Organizing for Action), as well as local elected officials, and come with a rich communications understanding complemented by an AI mindset. I have grown a network of tech investors and social impact experts from the StartingBloc social innovation fellowship, the Clinton Foundation, and the Blackstone Launchpad and TechStars communities. I am multilingual, tech and socially savvy, and my persuasive communicator and advocate nature best position me to be at the forefront of a SOLVE challenge effectively. 

In 2013, I was set to begin a Ph.D. program in Public Policy and Political Economy on a full scholarship and on the F-1 student visa. Unfortunately, the Department had a financial mishap and I soon found myself being told funding would not work for that year. I felt devastated, upended by a highly regulated visa status, and with family back home that I was hoping to help support monthly. I was able to pivot by undertaking unpaid professional experiences that summer, start a social impact consulting practice headquartered in my native country, and bootstrap my way through learning by doing. Returning on a different visa, I became an Ambassador for the Clinton Foundation of which I had been a member in college as part of the Clinton Global Initiative University and got involved in social impact networking events. I became a social innovation fellow and then mentor of StartingBloc, got an Entrepreneurship certificate from Cornell, and mentored the Women's March Youth Empower President and members. I got involved with the National Advisory Board of the American Association of University Women, consulted for Organizing for Action, and learned the ropes of the consulting sides that were manipulating US public opinion. 

Having withstood the vicissitudes of the Eastern European educational system that dismisses emotional balance in the process, I became enamored with music therapy as a complement to studying during my teenage years. The descriptive qualities evoked by ambient music painted rich tapestries of inspiration for my essays and analytical work. Music therapy became a side passion, and in the process I contacted luminaries in the space, from musicians to researchers while still a high schooler in Romania. During my college career, emotional balance was seamlessly integrated throughout, so music became a joyful background to everything. My commitment to action that earned my acceptance into President Clinton's annual Clinton Global Initiative University conference was popularizing music therapy in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases, beyond a studying aid. I helped a non-profit connecting Alzheimer's patients with music therapy sessions and equipment called Music Is Our Weapon, since we had very similar ideas on how to tackle the issue. We joined forces in this direction, with me speaking in the documentary of a renowned electronic artist and participating in studies illuminating the role of music as therapy in neurological processes, with SMU and UT Southwestern. 

The LegiSum Difference

Significant reduction of information tracking time by eliminating the need for staff-generated summarization through AI; instant and optimized summarization of complex information to personalized interests and demographics; significant reduction of information cluttering by subscribing to unrelated amendments alerts; providing a brand new, untapped service of keeping in line with the original bill’s subject matter; streamlining legislation in the hands of users. 

Information asymmetry exists across socioeconomic demographics, and is currently infused with ideological bias and skewed messaging catered to psychological traits. LegiSum would remove ideological middlemen by providing easy to understand summaries fitting in a screen of legislation relevant to the user's interests, allowing for the tracking and actions on the pieces, from the local level. By having a customizable platform through preferences, it would also make recommendations for civic actions calibrated to keywords. It would be a reverse-disinformation tool, providing information beyond institutional, ideological barriers, and facebook ads, with communities able to stay informed and organized. I plan to conduct regular market research for relevant iterations and co-creation sessions. 

Within the next year, I aim to have the platform known as a go-to summary tool for legislation, from local to federal, fitting your palm. I aim to have at least a million users by then (the city of Dallas is 1.4 million, Dallas County is 2.5m). In 5 years, I hope to have a global platform with regional iterations and at least 10 million users. 

Within the next year, my current barrier is technical and financial, given that I would need seed funding and sourcing technical talent for the first iteration. With SOLVE's network of exposure, technical expertise, and initial funding, I would conquer that short-term. 

Within the Elevate Prize program, I would fully leverage the funding and network recommendations to source the best technical and development talent to move to the next iteration. The wealth of media opportunities afforded by the name recognition and partners would embark a considerable numbers of users and would assist in our growth. The first seed funding would be used exclusively on technical and business development.

I am not currently formally partnered with any organization, but plan to leverage all my current affiliations in the process for media and other opportunities.

While the first demo search will be made free, app accounts will differentiate by amount of tracked legislation, as well as segment type: individual, academic, non-profit, and business. Subscription options will also differ by bills tracked weekly, monthly, or for the entire legislative session. The app would ultimately track any type of legislation (local, state, federal). More insights would have different tiers of pricing depending on the desired level of data organization and visualization and detail. 

It would be a combination of investment capital and selling the services of the product, with different pricing tiers and packages by user type (business would be the most expensive). 

The Elevate Prize would have a premier network of talent acquisition, media exposure, and investor networks that would assist with the most immediate needs of the project. The seed funding would go to the technical and business development initial needs, followed by the ongoing mentoring in the media, investor relations, and regulatory aspects. The community of social impact entrepreneurs would also be crucial for ongoing support and feedback, as well as continuous learning in the ecosystem. 

I aim to have LegiSum embedded in civic organizations, academic institutions, businesses, and communities as the go-to platform for simplified legislative tracking and summarization, keeping audiences informed beyond headlines and Facebook feeds. I wish to have LegiSum as a trusted member in those communities, providing in its turn support through sponsorships and hackathons when developed. 

The MicroMasters program in Data, Public Policy and Development - future case studies on effectiveness in different regions and communities; the JPAL lab - studies in reducing information asymmetry

The Clinton Foundation - talent recruitment, media exposure, membership

StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellowship - talent recruitment, business development, membership

American Association of University Women - civic organization partner, media exposure, membership

World Affairs Council - exposure, membership

Women's March Network - exposure, membership