MattAI Chatbot: Bringing Conversational AI to PR Teams

With information overload becoming the norm, PR professionals are drowning in data. Here’s how AI chatbots are throwing them a lifeline.
Futurist Alvin Toffler, in his groundbreaking book Future Shock (1970), offered a prediction that feels particularly relevant today: “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
This insight has never been more applicable to the world of public relations. As generative AI workflows evolve and become increasingly sophisticated, PR professionals and their organizations face a critical choice: adapt or risk being left behind.
Consider this scenario: imagine you’re working in an industry where 1,000 relevant articles appear across 10 different languages every single week. Think of it like trying to drink from a fire hose – how much of that information can any professional realistically absorb? Now add competitor coverage, government announcements, and NGO reports to the mix. The reality is that claiming to know “what’s going on out there truly“ becomes nearly impossible without help.
Understanding that you’re informed is one challenge. Analyzing what those 1,000 articles actually mean for your brand and determining their real impact? That’s where things get truly complex.
The Reality of On-Demand Executive Requests
Every PR professional knows this feeling: an executive appears with an urgent question about an issue you haven’t been tracking, or a competitor launches a surprise campaign. The clock starts ticking, and you need answers – fast.
Traditional approaches often fall short. Reading a single article or scanning a few headlines rarely provides the complete picture you need. This is where conversational AI tools like MattAI transform the game. Think of it as having a tireless assistant who has already read and understood every piece of relevant coverage. These AI-powered tools can quickly extract coverage summaries and identify emerging themes, providing comprehensive answers by analyzing all coverage in context, not just isolated pieces.
This capability becomes especially valuable during crisis situations or when tracking rapidly evolving issues. Rather than searching for needles in a haystack one by one, MattAI works like a powerful magnet, instantly pulling out all the relevant insights you need.
What Makes PR-Specific AI Different
While general-purpose AI chatbots have captured headlines, they often struggle with the specific needs of PR professionals. Here’s where specialized tools like MattAI create real value.
First, there’s the ethical dimension. MattAI operates as a licensed AI chatbot, meaning publishers receive appropriate compensation when their content is used. In an industry built on media relationships, this approach respects both copyright law and professional ethics.
More importantly, MattAI speaks your language—literally. The system is specifically trained on media data and PR terminology, understanding the nuances between “coverage,” “impressions,” and “share of voice” in ways general chatbots simply can’t match. It also ingests information in real time, ensuring you’re working with the most current data available, not yesterday’s news.
Picture having a conversation with a colleague who has not only read every relevant article published today but also understands the context, recognizes the key players, and can spot emerging patterns. By combining comprehensive data ingestion with human-validated insights, MattAI provides guidance you can actually trust and act upon. In fact, the MattAI chatbot turns overwhelming media noise into clear, actionable signals for PR professionals, helping teams cut through clutter and focus on what genuinely impacts brand reputation and stakeholder response.
The goal is straightforward: help PR professionals break free from information overload and develop better habits for understanding what truly matters in their media landscape.
Practical Applications in Today’s PR Environment
The business case for AI in PR is becoming clearer every day. According to Gartner, 17% of executives prioritize cost optimization when implementing generative AI initiatives. The same principle applies to communications technology – it’s not just about having cutting-edge tools, but about using them to work more efficiently and effectively.
Consider these everyday scenarios where AI assistance makes a tangible difference:
Executive Interview Preparation: Instead of scrambling to compile briefing documents, you can quickly generate comprehensive background materials that cover recent coverage, emerging topics, and potential challenging questions.
Multi-Dimensional Analysis: When leadership asks how media coverage correlates with stock performance or reputation metrics, AI can help you synthesize these different data streams into coherent insights.
Competitive Intelligence: Track not just what competitors are saying but also how their messages resonate across different markets and languages.
The question isn’t whether you could benefit from AI assistance – it’s whether you can afford to continue without it. Without embracing new analytical methods and information processing approaches, PR teams risk drowning in the ever-expanding ocean of social and traditional media. Understanding only a fraction of available information is, as Toffler might say, a form of professional illiteracy in our data-driven age.
James Rubec is a public relations technology leader who after working in communications for years wanted to operate less from his gut, and more from data. Obsessed with how the media can transform cultures, industries and real-world events Rubec joins Fullintel from the WEB3 industry and after more than 8-years in a wide variety of roles at Cision including as a Senior Director of Product Management. Having worked as a reporter in Ottawa, and Yellowknife then as PR professional in Toronto, Rubec translates his experience across the media, to build tools that help organizations understand their industries and move with speed. Have an idea that would help better shape your story, Rubec says he'd love to hear from you.