Listening: Query Generation by AI Assist

Query Generation by AI Assist helps you quickly build, expand, and refine complex Listening queries using plain language. Instead of manually constructing boolean logic, operators, and long keyword lists from scratch, you can describe what you want to track, and AI Assist will generate the appropriate inclusions, exclusions, and keyword groupings for your topic.

See FAQs here.

Permissions & Availability

• Feature Availability: Listening Beta feature for all Sprout plans with the Listening add-on.
• User Permissions: Users must have permissions to Create or Edit Listening Topics (Manage Topics permission).

Key Capabilities & Scope

• Natural Language to Boolean: Convert conversational descriptions into structured Boolean keyword queries.
• Create & Refine: Generate brand-new queries from an empty builder, or refine existing queries with new terms and exclusions.
• Keyword Scope: AI Assist generates and modifies keywords and boolean logic only (Included Keywords, Excluded Keywords, and keyword groups).
  • Note: Channels, advanced filters, noise filters, and alert settings are not modified by AI Assist and must be configured manually.
• Topic Size Limit: Generated queries conform to Sprout’s standard limit of 2,037 characters per topic query.

How to Generate or Refine a Query with AI Assist

1. Navigate to Listening > Topics.
2. Click Create Topic (or click the three dots menu ••• on an existing topic > Edit Topic).
3. Select your topic type or open the Query Builder.
4. In the Query Builder, locate the AI Assist button:
   • If the Query Builder is empty, click Help me generate a query.
   • If you already have keywords populated, click Refine query.
5. In the modal that appears, enter a plain-language prompt describing what you want to listen for.
   • Example 1 (New Query): "Track customer feedback and sentiment around our summer menu launch, including cold brew, smoothies, and breakfast wraps. Exclude recipe-sharing and job postings."
   • Example 2 (Refinement): "Add our new oat milk drink variations and exclude franchise inquiries."
6. Click Generate (or Refine).

7. Review the generated keywords in the Query Builder:
   • Newly generated or modified terms appear highlighted in purple.
   • Purple highlighting indicates an unedited AI suggestion. Once you click or edit a term, it returns to the standard gray chip color.
8. Make any manual adjustments to the keywords, groupings, or boolean operators as needed.
9. Configure your desired Channels, Noise Filters, and Advanced Filters.
10. Click Save Topic or Apply Changes.

Note on Discarding Changes: There is no automatic "Undo" button once AI-generated terms are populated in the builder. If you are not satisfied with the generated suggestions, close the draft Query Builder without saving to revert to your previous state.

Best Practices for Prompts

• Be Specific: Include brand names, key product lines, common variations, and distinct campaign hashtags.
• Specify Exclusions Early: If you know specific noise patterns (e.g., job recruitment, customer support tickets, unrelated brands with similar names), include them directly in your prompt.
• Keep Prompts Focused: Overly broad or multi-layered prompts may generate more terms than can fit within the 2,037-character limit. If your query hits the limit, break down your prompt or manually remove lower-priority terms.
• Review Boolean Structure: Always review generated AND, OR, and NOT relationships to ensure the topic matches your exact listening goals.