7/7/23, 2:52 PM NSF Award Search: Award # 1951091 - SBIR Phase II: A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance

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Award Abstract # 1951091

SBIR Phase II: A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance

TI
NSF Org:
Translational Impacts

Recipient: AUTOMATED CONTROVERSY DETECTION, INC.

Initial Amendment Date: April 21, 2020

Latest Amendment Date: November 9, 2022

Award Number: 1951091

Award Instrument: Standard Grant

Peter Atherton
patherto@nsf.gov (703)292-8772
Program Manager:
TI Translational Impacts
TIP Dir for Tech, Innovation, & Partnerships

Start Date: May 1, 2020

End Date: October 31, 2022 (Estimated)

Total Intended Award Amount: $742,421.00

Total Awarded Amount to Date: $940,261.00

FY 2020 = $742,421.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2021 = $50,000.00
FY 2022 = $147,840.00

Kaustubh Prabhu (Principal Investigator)

kaustubh@aucode.io
History of Investigator:
Shiri Dori-Hacohen (Former Principal Investigator)
Keen Sung (Former Principal Investigator)

Automated Controversy Detection, Inc.

10 OAK DR APT A
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: GRANBY
MA US 01033-9767
(617)792-5067

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7/7/23, 2:52 PM NSF Award Search: Award # 1951091 - SBIR Phase II: A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance

Sponsor Congressional District: 01

Automated Controversy Detection, Inc.

11 Amity St.
Primary Place of Performance:
Amherst
MA US 01002-2985

Primary Place of Performance

02
Congressional District:

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): DC84ZCMNME93

Parent UEI:

NSF Program(s): SBIR Phase II

Primary Program Source: 040100 NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

040100 NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

Program Reference Code(s): 169E, 6856, 8032, 8240

Program Element Code(s): 5373

Award Agency Code: 4900

Fund Agency Code: 4900

Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.041, 47.084

ABSTRACT

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will
result from development of a technology to automatically detect controversy and
disinformation, providing a means for financial institutions to reduce risk exposure.
Controversies and disinformation have received public attention and political concern
recently. Application of the technology in the finance industry is part of a growing trend
toward "alternative data" products relying on artificial intelligence and machine learning,
saving analyst time and enabling faster reactions to news stories and social media.
Demonstrating the innovation in a quantifiable application, such as finance, is expected to
lead to more far-reaching societal impact by enabling users to critically and quantitatively
evaluate the often-overwhelming stream of online content.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project advances the development
of novel algorithms that automatically detect controversy in social media, news, and other
outlets. The proposed project will apply a real-time controversy detection signal to financial
data, using methods such as language models and machine learning. Additionally, this
project will: 1) build core capabilities based on existing controversy detection technology;
and 2) construct novel algorithms with broad applicability.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through
evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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7/7/23, 2:52 PM NSF Award Search: Award # 1951091 - SBIR Phase II: A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an
external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available
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Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ
from this site.

Dori-Hacohen, S. and Montenegro, R. and Murai, F. and Hale, S. A. and Sung, K. and Blain,
M. and Edwards-Johnson, J. "Fairness via AI: Bias Reduction in Medical Information" The 4th
FAccTRec Workshop on Responsible Recommendation at RecSys 2021 , 2021 Citation Details

Dori-Hacohen, Shiri and Sung, Keen and Chou, Jengyu and Lustig-Gonzalez, Julian
"Restoring Healthy Online Discourse by Detecting and Reducing Controversy, Misinformation,
and Toxicity Online" Restoring Healthy Online Discourse by Detecting and Reducing
Controversy, Misinformation, and Toxicity Online , 2021
https://doi.org/10.1145/3404835.3464926 Citation Details

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by
the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

Healthy online discourse is becoming less and less accessible

Image
beneath the growing noise of controversy, mis- and dis-
information, and toxic speech. At AuCoDe, we believe that both
detecting online information disorders and deploying novel, real-
world content moderation tools is crucial in promoting empathy
in social networks, and maintaining free expression and
discourse. During this project we collaborated with both
academia and other industrial partners in finding a path toward
a better, more trustworthy online ecosystem, and define a new
standard for nuanced community discussions.

Over the duration of this NSF SBIR Phase II Award, AuCoDe

made significant strides towards commercialization, performing
customer discovery and development, working with partners on
pilot products. We also made a major pivot due to changing
market conditions and reevaluation of our technology vis a vis
the competitive landscape.

During this award we have developed several technologies,

including Squint, a controversy detection dashboard; and
Squabble, a proprietary controversy detection model. Together,
Squint and Squabble enable users to learn the controversy and
toxicity levels of social media content, together with the stance
score of an individual or a company.

More recently, we launched a free product, DETOXIFY, and

created several marketing initiatives. DETOXIFY is a chrome
extension app enabling you to define the topics you wish to
avoid by blurring them from your feed.

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7/7/23, 2:52 PM NSF Award Search: Award # 1951091 - SBIR Phase II: A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance
With DETOXIFY, our patent-pending free app, one can
experience a healthy and safe online consumption of information
and avoid unwanted content that triggers them or harms their
mental health.

DETOXIFY is available for free at:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/detoxify-make-your-
browsi/glhmcoefkcheiijjaclcoblkfgfoefhc/

In addition, we recently launched Mined the Controversy video

podcast on our Youtube channel, where we share a weekly
episode discussing current controversies. The podcast is
available at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh7oeZXU2rKvm4kFV_LAZTw

Last Modified: 03/07/2023

Modified by: Kaustubh Prabhu

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

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