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| David Fuscus |
It's mistakenly thought that the term "lobbyist" was coined by President Ulysses S. Grant when referring to the hangers-on who would bother him while he relaxed in the lobby of the Willard Hotel, a stone's throw from the White House.
The term actually originates in 17th century Britain and started out as "lobby-agents" or "lobby members" to describe members of the public loitering in the hallways of the British Parliament hoping to get a word with lawmakers. It eventually was shortened to lobbyists.
David Fuscus, Précis AI CEO, knows that a lot of people are getting their facts like the anecdote pulled above from generalist AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, even in their professional capacity. This is a problem for Fuscus.
Fuscus worked with leading DC lobbyists and used Précis AI's existing offering for PR pros to design Willard specifically for policy and legislative work. It wasn’t adapted from a general-purpose chatbot or bolted onto keyword database lobbying software.
Speaking with O'Dwyer's, Fuscus pointed out that, "The best professionals treat AI like a brilliant junior account executive: they direct, challenge and edit ruthlessly." "The worst treat AI like a vending machine and wonder why the output tastes like plastic."
Fuscus explained that most every PR software tool is incorporating AI into its existing platform. The Précis approach is in the opposite direction, starting with AI first, and building outwards to new features that users find valuable, according to Fuscus.
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| Précis AI founder David Fuscus scribbled out the original concept for his software on a McDonald's bag. |
“If AI only works for your best people, it’s not a tool. It’s a tutorial”, Fuscus stressed. “A purpose-built platform like Willard raises up everyone, from the intern drafting their first policy brief to the partner walking the halls of Congress.”
Notable Willard features include:
World’s Largest AI-Accessible Database: Précis AI created the world’s largest AI-accessible database and uses it to power Willard. Millions of official federal government documents are the source material other tools may not have access to.
Fact Checking: Willard’s Highlight & Click Fact Checking uses multiple AI models to check each other’s work, challenge claims, surface contradictions, and pressure-tests conclusions. Based on verified federal data.
Enterprise-grade Security: Willard’s DataVault™ ensures users private access -- never shared or trained. End-to-end encrypted with SOC II security certification.
The Willard platform has been in beta testing for several weeks and is now being offered to a wider audience via invite for free trials.
“The next AI wave isn’t bigger models, it’s smarter ones, built for specific industries by people who actually understand the business,” Fuscus said.
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