Gudea presents AI that tracks who spreads online narratives
Gudea presented its narrative-tracking system at TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield. Led by founder Keith Presley, the company aims to trace the accounts and relationships through which stories and rumors spread across more than 500 sites and platforms. Its tools offer communications teams context beyond post counts. More precise geolocation and campaign simulations remain planned features.
Artificial Intelligence··Midday
Gudea traces accounts and the paths between them
Gudea presented its online narrative-tracking system on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on 14 October. The company uses artificial intelligence to follow how stories and rumors move between accounts, groups and platforms.[1], [2]
Founder and chief executive Keith Presley argued at the event that existing communications tools concentrate on counts such as hashtags and impressions. Gudea instead aims to identify who drives a discussion and the relationships carrying it. Its analysis covers more than 500 mainstream and fringe sites and platforms, including X, Reddit and TikTok.[1]
The product grew from information-network research
Presley founded Gudea in 2023 with strategy head Jonathan Sperber and technology chief James Thomin. The company grew out of the George Washington Initiative, a nonprofit that studied information networks after the 2020 election. The team’s work shifted toward helping organizations understand how discussions develop across different online environments.[1]
Presley says the product has nearly 40 customers, including corporations, communications agencies, a band and government users. The system provides context behind a growing discussion so communications teams can decide whether and how to respond.[1]
More precise geolocation is planned for next year
Gudea plans to add city-block-level geolocation for online narratives next year. It also wants to let customers test a proposed advertising campaign through its models before launch, to assess possible negative reactions. Both are future capabilities. No independent accuracy rate has been published for the current product’s ability to identify information pathways.[1]
