The AI-driven news aggregation and discovery platform Artifact, developed by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, the co-founders of Instagram, was acquired by Yahoo. Artifact will no longer be available as a stand-alone app; instead, in the coming months, its own AI-powered personalization engine and other features will be incorporated into other Yahoo apps, such as the Yahoo News app. The size of the Yahoo News network, which is projected to be the top news and information property in the United States by 2023, will make the Artifact technologies even more significant.
The goal of Artifact was to employ AI to present consumers with the most relevant articles possible. It did this by using proprietary technologies to deliver curated news and content experiences. Yahoo serves as a reliable resource for consumers looking to accomplish online objectives, such as finding and engaging with high-quality material that interests them. This investment accelerates Yahoo’s aim to provide a more tailored news and information discovery experience across platforms and strengthens Yahoo’s commitment to provide reliable news and information to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Yahoo was among the first to blend computer and human news curation. Since then, a lot has happened in the machine learning and customization space, and Artifact has evolved with best-in-class technology to keep up with the times, according to Yahoo News SVP and general manager Kat Downs Mulder. “We’re excited to be able to develop Artifact further and fulfill our mission of becoming the most reliable source of digital information and the greatest curator, guiding people to the content that matters most to them,” the company said. “Artifact has grown into a beloved product.”
“We created a user-friendly product that we think will benefit millions of people and is intuitive.” Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Artifact, stated, “Yahoo brings the scale to help the product achieve what we envisioned while upholding the belief that connecting people to the trusted sources of news and information is as critical as ever.” “We can now provide users with a better experience in finding amazing content that they care about thanks to AI.” Yahoo is aware of this potential, and we are very eager to see what we’ve created come to life on Yahoo News.
With time, Artifact’s AI-powered discovery engine learns what interests users and presents the content they want to view most. The outcome is a highly successful tailored news feed that assists readers in finding content they are interested in reading. Apart from curating, Artifact offers an array of functionalities designed to enhance the user experience, such as effortless access to the most recent news, the ability to share links, instruments to stop the spread of clickbait, and more. By adding these features to the Yahoo portfolio, the chance to provide users with even more personalized and richer content experiences is accelerated.
The Artifact acquisition by Yahoo concluded on March 29. CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger, who co-founded Artifact, will serve as advisors to Yahoo during this transition.
