Sentia

Iran canceled U.S. talks after Israel's strike, blaming complicity. Oil surged. Sentia shows how news like this hits your wallet—AI-powered, personalized, and built for real-world impact.

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✨ About the Project: Sentia

A little over a week ago, Iran canceled peace talks with the U.S. after Israel launched a preemptive strike. Oil prices surged overnight. The markets reacted. Most people had no idea why. That moment sparked a realization: global events shape our lives every day—but most of us are too overwhelmed or misinformed to understand how.

That’s why I built Sentia — an AI-powered news platform that helps users make sense of the world, through the lens of their own lives. It explains not just what’s happening, but why it matters to you.

💡 Inspiration

I’ve always been passionate about understanding global affairs — but even I found myself lost in biased headlines, paywalled articles, and algorithmic echo chambers. I wanted to build a tool that:

  • Cuts through the noise
  • Explains real-world impact (on jobs, economies, rights)
  • Helps people think critically instead of passively scrolling

🛠️ How I Built It

Sentia was built from scratch during SpurHacks 2025 using:

  • Frontend: React 18 + TypeScript
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS + Shadcn/ui (glassmorphism UI)
  • Build Tool: Vite
  • Mobile Experience: PWA with smooth swipe navigation
  • AI Layer: Simulated AI chat + context-aware insights
  • User Profile Logic: Personalized onboarding to calibrate beliefs, interests, and media trust

🚧 Challenges I Faced

  • Contextual personalization: Making news feel relevant without overfitting or oversimplifying
  • Sourcing credible content: Designing for trust in an era of misinformation
  • Designing for clarity: Clean, mobile-first UI that still delivers depth
  • Working solo under pressure: Building UI, logic, AI prompts, and presentation all within the hackathon window

🌱 What I Learned

  • How to think like a product designer, not just a coder
  • How to communicate complex events in simple, human terms
  • How to build a scalable, mobile-optimized PWA with real use cases
  • That the best tech solves problems people actually feel

🚀 What’s Next

Sentia is just getting started. The next version will include:

  • Real news APIs
  • Live AI summarization + contextual linking
  • Credibility heatmaps per article
  • Real-time personalization with user feedback

Thanks for reading — and thank you SpurHacks for the space to build something meaningful.

— Ahmed Elnimah

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