Shalini Ananda, an AI Researcher, turned her backend engineering skills into real-world impact with Lovable. With zero frontend experience, she built Fire Fairness—an “insurance equity engine” that helps non-profit legal aid groups process wildfire insurance claims 360x faster while eliminating bias through multi-agent AI coordination. Already used by attorneys supporting victims of the 2025 Los Angeles fires, Fire Fairness demonstrates what’s possible when Lovable builders use algorithms for advocacy.
TL;DR
- Builder: Shalini Ananda, PhD, AI Researcher from San Francisco, California
- What she built: Fire Fairness, an “insurance equity engine” for non-profit legal aid groups
- Impact: Processes fire insurance claims 360x faster, helping attorneys fight bias in claim denials after the 2025 Los Angeles fires
- Why it matters: Directly supports victims of devastating wildfires in California
Builder Background
Shalini Ananda isn’t a front-end engineer. With a PhD in machine learning, she lives deep in the backend world of code and algorithms — building powerful, but mostly inaccessible tools for non-engineers.
“I usually work in the command line,” she laughs. “What I build is useful for engineers, but impossible for non-technical users.”
When the LA fires of 2025 destroyed communities close to her former home in Altadena, she noticed something troubling: the difference between accepted insurance claims and those that were rejected, often came down to bias. Legal aid groups were overwhelmed with these cases, and many residents in the burn zone were unfairly denied by insurance companies.
The Build: Fire Fairness
At a Weights & Biases hackathon, Shalini began assembling AI agents to audit and process insurance claims faster and more fairly. But it was only when she brought the project into Lovable that the product was completely transformed.
“In less than an hour, I turned a monster repository into a working web app. Attorneys could finally upload documents securely and see results,” she explained.
“Without Fire Fairness, it would take attorneys several weeks to process claims. Now they can process cases start to finish in less than a day.”
Fire Fairness combines CAL FIRE data, satellite imagery, and bias detection to generate clear reports that:
- Verifies if an address is inside a burn impact range
- Surfaces demographic bias patterns
- Outputs geolocation and damage validation against public fire data
Lovable reconstructed what was once buried in technical interfaces and backend complexity into something intuitive and actionable for non-profits and legal aid groups on the ground.
Results & Impact
- Already in use by legal aid groups helping LA fire victims
- 2,847 claims processed through Fire Fairness to date
- 360x faster processing time than manual reviews (hours instead of weeks)
- 99.8% cost reduction
- Ensures equity by removing demographic bias from insurance claims
“Insurance companies were using AI to deny claims,” Shalini noted.
“Now we’re using AI to fight that bias.”
Why Lovable Made The Difference
“This was the first front-end app I’ve ever built,” Shalini admitted. “I don’t have any design or usability experience. But Lovable created something beautiful and usable.”
Lovable gave her a way to translate backend code into a human-centered solution, and in doing so, put critical tools in the hands of people fighting for fire victims’ rights.
Lessons & Builder Tips
From Shalini’s experience building with Lovable:
- **Build for the user you’re trying to help, not for technical peers. “**What’s powerful in engineering means nothing if people can’t use what you’ve built.”
- Lovable bridges the gap. “Don’t wait for perfection. A working solution can have real-world impact.”
- **Flip the script. “**Think about how your AI projects can solve inequality instead of reinforcing it.”
What's Next
Shalini has already given Fire Fairness to legal aid groups, who have adopted it and helped provide feedback for further iterations and improvements. The tool is free and non-commercial by design. Her next step: ensuring it remains secure, scalable, and reliable for attorneys processing claims at scale.
“My only goal is to help people get back on their feet,” she said. “This project is about resilience — in our tools and in our communities.”
