Amity Region 5 School District announced that Sage Wong, an eleventh grader at Amity Regional High School, was named the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Connecticut’s Third District and was presented with the award by US Rep. Rosa DeLauro at the school on Jan. 28.
Factualize AI, the app that won the competition, was created by Wong and aims to combat misinformation by automatically fact-checking claims and providing contextual explanations.
Wong said that the creation of Factualize AI was inspired by his own experience being misled by things he found on the internet. The app not only automatically fact-checks claims, but also provides an explanation with further context.
The Congressional App Challenge is an initiative of the US House of Representatives, encouraging middle and high school students to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The winning team from each Congressional district is invited to showcase their app to Congress during the annual #HouseOfCode festival.