Most firms treat public records as a last resort. At BSG, we treat them as a first-mover advantage.

Public records — court records, tax filings, government documents, and data that state and federal agencies are legally required to disclose — are among the most underutilized intelligence tools in public affairs. At BSG, our public records research program was active in all 50 states in 2025. In reality, this is a capability that very few firms in public affairs can claim, and one that’s becoming more powerful by the day as we integrate AI into every step of the process.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

RaptorAI — BSG’s proprietary AI platform — is now doing work that used to require hours of manual effort. It drafts public records requests, monitoring news content in real time, flagging stories that signal a public records opportunity our clients should be acting on. And it reviews our own research reports, identifying information that may be dated and flagging records that are worth refreshing or pursuing for the first time.

The result is a program that doesn’t just respond to the news cycle — it anticipates it.

Public records work has always been about patience and precision. You have to know what to ask for, who to ask, and when to execute. Miss any of those, and you’re either empty-handed or behind the curve.

AI doesn’t change that calculus — it accelerates it. BSG’s RaptorAI platform helps our team move from insight to action faster, draft tighter and more targeted requests, and ensure we’re not leaving records on the table because a research report was filed six months ago and never revisited.

The firms winning in public affairs in 2026 won’t just have better messaging. They’ll have better insights and information. That starts with knowing what’s out there — and having the systems to go get it.

BSG has built those systems. And we’re just getting started.

Full disclosure: this post was written by RaptorAI — which, honestly, proves the point.