CASE STUDY
Reimagining policy research with AI.
CLIENT
INDUSTRY
PRODUCT
THE CHALLENGE
Deliver fast, custom research. Protect the journalism.
Imagine a policy analyst at a healthcare company who could assemble a briefing in minutes instead of hours, unlocking more time for strategy and impact.
POLITICO Pro has long been trusted by policy professionals who need to move quickly and stay informed. As the pace of legislative change accelerated and the demand for tailored insights expanded, POLITICO recognized a powerful opportunity to elevate how policy intelligence is delivered. By rethinking its approach to customization and efficiency, the company saw the potential to empower subscribers with faster, more precise insights that matched their evolving needs.
At the same time, POLITICO saw a chance to deepen trust by ensuring any new solution would uphold its editorial standards, protect its journalism, and strengthen the credibility that has long defined the brand. Rachel Loeffler, Chief Growth Officer at POLITICO, saw this inflection point as a moment for growth. “POLITICO has always been about staying ahead of the curve,” she explained. “To keep leading, we needed a partner that could reimagine policy research.”
IT STARTS WITH A PROMPT
A Pro subscriber asks: current vs the most recent farm bill.
SECONDS LATER
A citation-grounded comparison report in the Report Editor, ready to export.
THE SOLUTION
A walled garden inside POLITICO Pro
Capitol AI brought that vision to life. The team partnered with POLITICO to create a secure, AI-powered environment inside the Pro platform, drawing exclusively from POLITICO’s journalism, focused on protecting POLITICO’s standards and data. Rather than relying on open models that might compromise data or accuracy, Capitol AI built a walled garden where generative AI could safely operate within POLITICO’s archive.
The collaboration began with joint brainstorming sessions, where leaders from both organizations explored how generative AI might reshape the subscriber experience. Out of those conversations came the most impactful idea: enabling subscribers to generate tailored research reports instantly. A process that previously consumed users’ days would be significantly reduced, with the assurance that every output was grounded in POLITICO’s reporting.
The project built on POLITICO’s earlier experimentation with AI-driven legislative summaries, but scaled the concept in a way that fundamentally transformed the user experience. Rachel emphasized that the partnership worked because Capitol AI not only understood the technology but also respected POLITICO’s editorial rigor.
RACHEL LOEFFLER, CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER, POLITICO
WHAT WE DEPLOYED
Not retrieval. Artifact production. Repeatable, revenue-aligned output.
INTEGRATED PROPRIETARY ARCHIVE
Drawing exclusively from POLITICO’s journalism, with its standards and data protected.
REPEATABLE POLICY WORKFLOW
Tailored research reports generated instantly; a process that once consumed users’ days, significantly reduced.
EMBEDDED CITATION ENGINE
Every output grounded in POLITICO’s reporting: credible, attributable, and secure.
VERTICAL-SPECIFIC ARTIFACT GENERATION IN POLITICO PRO
Built directly into the POLITICO Pro subscriber experience.
THE ASK → WHY IT WINS
Scale bespoke reporting without scaling headcount
The strength of the partnership lies in the combination of POLITICO’s trusted journalism and Capitol AI’s technical innovation. By designing a solution that uses only POLITICO’s reporting, the companies ensured that outputs would be credible, attributable, and secure. As policy and government affairs become more complex, professionals cannot afford delays. Capitol AI’s technology allows POLITICO to meet those demands without compromising its editorial standards.
METRIC
IMPACT
SALES TEAMS
Using the upcoming feature in client conversations, highlighting how it sets Pro apart in a competitive market.
RENEWALS & GROWTH
Already influencing renewal conversations, and expected to play a role in both renewals and new subscriber growth.
SUBSCRIBERS
Less time compiling reports and more time influencing policy.
SPEED & SUBSCRIBER VALUE
CONTENT THROUGHPUT
REPORT TIME
hours →
seconds
MARGINAL COST
per report →
$0
“Capitol AI will power a new experience in Pro where users can generate custom reports on any policy topic in seconds, all grounded in POLITICO’s trusted archive.” — POLITICO announcement, September 2024
BEYOND THE REPORT
The future of policy research
POLITICO’s custom report tool brings trusted journalism directly into the workflows of policy professionals. By combining POLITICO’s reporting with Capitol AI’s technology, subscribers can move from broad questions to focused, useful analysis faster, while keeping expert journalism at the center of the experience.
The model also creates new possibilities for personalized briefings, state-level research, and rapid analysis of fast-moving policy developments. Together, POLITICO and Capitol AI make policy research faster, more precise, and more valuable.