Tracking the Spread of Online Narratives with AI
Every day, conversations unfold across social media and websites around the world. A seemingly insignificant post — whether it involves AI-generated misinformation, hate speech, or a damaging rumor — can quickly snowball into a much larger public controversy. Recognizing the need to identify and address these issues before they escalate, Gudea has emerged as a pioneer in leveraging artificial intelligence to help organizations spot trouble brewing online before it turns into a crisis.
Founded in 2023 by Keith Presley, Jonathan Sperber, and James Thomin, Gudea describes itself as the “storm tracker for the internet.” The company’s innovative approach goes beyond traditional social listening platforms, which mostly track metrics such as mentions, hashtags, and impressions. Instead, Gudea’s AI analyzes who is driving conversations, how information flows, how quickly stories gain traction, and the potential trajectory of online narratives. This is accomplished by monitoring over 500 mainstream and fringe websites and platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, and TikTok.
A New Paradigm for Crisis Prevention
Unlike legacy tools that merely report rising mentions or impressions, Gudea provides critical context that helps decision-makers understand the dynamics behind online discussions. This allows companies to proactively determine how and whether to respond to emerging issues, thereby protecting their brand reputation more effectively.
Speaking at the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, CEO and founder Keith Presley emphasized the limitations of current tools. “These big industries don’t understand that there are things they can do proactively to defend their reputation and their brand,” Presley said. “A lot of the chief communications officers and chief media or marketing officers, they’re using legacy tools to try to figure out what’s happening. Those tools were only ever designed to tell you the number of hashtags or number of impressions.”
Presley, who brings over 15 years of experience spanning political campaigns and defense—including building infrastructure for Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign—along with Sperber, an expert in disinformation research, and Thomin, a PhD in chemical engineering with two decades in AI and machine learning, combine diverse expertise that underpins Gudea’s authoritative and trustworthy technology.
From Nonprofit Roots to Industry Impact
Gudea’s origins are rooted in the George Washington Initiative, a nonprofit organization founded after the 2020 U.S. election. The initiative adapted intelligence community strategies used to disrupt extremist networks overseas, applying them domestically to counter disinformation campaigns. The team aimed to identify and disrupt online environments where harmful narratives were forming and spreading.
However, they quickly realized that existing tools failed to reveal how information actually moved between people, groups, and platforms. Identifying this gap led to the creation of Gudea’s AI-driven solution, which tracks the pathways of information to provide actionable insights.
Three years after its founding, Gudea has grown to serve nearly 40 clients, including a Fortune 50 telecommunications company, a Fortune 50 retailer, one of the world’s largest AI labs, a major global band, numerous public relations and crisis communication agencies, and government entities. This diverse customer base reflects the company’s expertise and growing authority in digital reputation management.
Addressing the Challenges of Generative AI
The rise of generative AI has intensified the need for Gudea’s technology. AI tools have lowered the barrier to creating and coordinating online campaigns, enabling individuals to generate content and influence narratives with unprecedented ease. Presley notes a sharp increase in inauthentic activity, stating, “When we first started in 2021, and then as a company in 2023, we maybe saw one out of four things we looked at have inauthentic activity around it. Now it’s probably nine out of 10 things that we look at have this inauthentic activity.”
To stay ahead, Gudea plans to expand its capabilities to pinpoint the origin of narratives and trace their spread more precisely. A significant upcoming feature is geolocation for narratives, expected next year, which will allow users to identify where conversations are taking place down to the city-block level. This granular insight will further enhance organizations’ ability to respond strategically.
Additionally, Gudea aims to empower customers with greater access to its analytical tools. For example, companies could use Gudea’s AI models to simulate advertising campaigns before launching them, assessing potential reputational risks and negative outcomes beforehand.
Funding and Future Outlook
Last week, Gudea announced the successful closing of a $7 million seed funding round co-led by Mudita Venture Partners and Silicon Road Ventures. This latest investment brings the startup’s total funding to approximately $15 million, fueling its expansion and innovation efforts.
As misinformation and online manipulation grow increasingly sophisticated, organizations across sectors will likely find Gudea’s AI-powered insights invaluable for safeguarding their reputations in a complex digital landscape.
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