College Student Builds, Sells AI Tool for Congressional Memos

While working as a congressional intern for U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-New Jersey, last spring semester, American University economics student Amir Farahani found inefficiencies in the workflow and thought technology could make a difference.

From there, the 20-year-old New Jersey native set out to tackle the problem himself. He created Turbo Legi, a website that automates the process of writing congressional memos. He said the website went live in May 2023, following his internship, and eventually caught the attention of the software company FiscalNote, which acquired it in January. Now he’s working with the company as an associate product and business development manager.

“Once my internship ended, and I was no longer working on the hill, I immediately went and purchased a domain, incorporated a company and launched my own platform,” he said.

Farahani said he began entertaining the idea behind Turbo Legi after seeing how time-consuming it could be for staffers to draft legislative memos. He said the program uses artificial intelligence to finish that task in a fraction of the time, freeing up staffers for other important work.

“The memo is invaluable because this is how people [know to] vote for your bills. But this is a time-consuming task that can take an hour, writing a two-page memo. What Turbo Legi does is, you just copy and paste the press release [or related document], hit ‘generate,’ fill out what congressperson you are, and then the memo gets written instantly in 30 seconds as opposed to an hour,” he said.

Farahani said he’s always had an interest in coding and in technology, particularly relating to the rise of cryptocurrencies in recent years. He added that his experience as a congressional intern showed him the need for tools that could automate mundane tasks and streamline day-to-day operations in congressional workspaces.

“I did a lot of stuff and gained a lot of awareness about what it really takes to be a congressional staffer, as well as what goes on inside of a congressional office,” he said. “There are a lot of processes and workflows within Congress that I think are severely outdated and have room for automation. … Not to say that something was being done wrong, but I like to [have a] naturally questioning mind. I just get curious — ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ I thought of a lot stuff that could be improved upon, so when my internship ended, I started Turbo Legi.”

Farahani said that additional details about the acquisition are not yet public, but he’s considering expanding the tool with other functions to make congressional offices work more efficiently. He said over 50 congressional offices are making use of Turbo Legi in its current iteration.

“I’m looking to continue here and I’m really looking to pioneer this space,” Farahani said, adding that he also might pursue a law degree.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misidentified Turbo Legi as an app. It is a website.