Artifact had previously announced that it was shutting down the small but beloved AI-driven news app around two months ago. It was expected that was the end of Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger’s latest project, but that turns out not to be the case.
In a statement on the Artifact website, the company announced that the app and its underlying technology has now been acquired by Yahoo. The company revealed that “While Artifact will no longer operate as a standalone app or site, the proprietary AI-powered personalization technology and other features will live on and be integrated across Yahoo, including in Yahoo News, in the months to come.”
We’ve already shared our decision to wind down operations of the Artifact app. You may have noticed that we kept our core news reading capability running a bit longer than planned – until April 2nd. While Artifact will no longer operate as a standalone app or site, the proprietary AI-powered personalization technology and other features will live on and be integrated across Yahoo, including in Yahoo News, in the months to come. We think the technology Artifact has created will be even more impactful with the scale of the Yahoo News network, ranked the #1 news and information property in the US in 2023.
Yahoo, of course, also made an official announcement of the acquisition, saying that its underlying technology will help boost Yahoo News and that the investment “advances Yahoo’s commitment to bringing trusted news and information to hundreds of millions of users globally, and accelerates our vision to offer a more personalized experience for discovering news and information across platforms.”
Kat Downs Mulder, SVP and General Manager of Yahoo News, said in a statement that the company plans to integrate Artifact’s artificial intelligence technology into Yahoo News and potentially other products within the company’s portfolio.
Yahoo was one of the first to combine human and algorithmic curation of news. Since then, the landscape of machine learning and personalization has changed dramatically and Artifact has innovated with best-in-class technology to meet the moment. Artifact has become a beloved product and we’re thrilled to be able to continue to grow that technology and further our mission of becoming the trusted guide to digital information and the best curator connecting people to the content that matters most to them.
Kevin Systrom, CEO and Co-Founder of Artifact, says that, while users loved Artifact, Yahoo will bring the scale required to keep its technology going.
“We built an intuitive product experience that users love and has the opportunity to benefit millions of people. 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. AI has allowed us to give users a better experience discovering great content they care about. Yahoo recognizes that opportunity, and we could not be more excited to see what we’ve built live on through Yahoo News.”
Yahoo says that Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger “will work with Yahoo in an advisory capacity during this transition,” but the two won’t remain at Yahoo with any long-term positions. Also, the Artifact app is already pulled down from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, so we are officially in a new age of Artifact — well, at least its underlying technology.
I guess it’s back to the Apple News app for me! Or Reddit.
