GUDEA's Narrative Intelligence Lands on the Front Page of The New York Times

When The New York Times set out to understand how a social media mob tried to expose the identity of a woman who had chosen to remain anonymous, it turned to GUDEA (Techstars 2023) to trace what happened. The resulting story, "When a Social Media Mob Came for Cornell's Jane Doe," ran on page one of the Sunday paper.

GUDEA's analysis found that in a little over a week, more than 11,000 accounts made almost 25,000 posts claiming to identify her. The team followed those posts as they started on X and moved to Bluesky, 4chan, Discord, Telegram, Rumble, and beyond.

What GUDEA Does

GUDEA uses AI to map how information travels online. The platform looks at behavior, relationships, and the paths stories take across more than 500 mainstream and fringe platforms. That gives customers a clear view of who is driving a conversation, how it's spreading, and where it's likely to go next.

"This is what we built GUDEA to do," wrote Keith Presley, CEO and founder of GUDEA, on LinkedIn. "Trace where information originates, how it moves across platforms, and where it lands hardest, while there's still time to act on it."

The Times story shows why that matters. A rumor or a coordinated push rarely stays on one platform. By the time it reaches a person's inbox or a brand's comment section, it has usually passed through several communities, each adding reach. Seeing those jumps as they happen is what makes a response possible.

Work With Real Stakes

For Keith and the team, the placement matters less than the purpose behind it. In this case, the subject was a real person whose privacy and safety were on the line.

"I'm proud of our team," Keith said. "The work was the kind that The New York Times relies on when the stakes are a real person's life. Our goal is simple. Pull back the curtain on how information spreads, so people know where what they see comes from and can judge it accordingly."

A Big Month for GUDEA

The Times story caps a busy stretch for the company. GUDEA recently closed a $7M seed round and was named a Top 20 finalist for Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where it pitched its platform on stage.

Learn more about GUDEA at gudea.ai.