Yahoo acquires AI news platform Artifact

Yahoo has acquired Artifact, the AI-driven news aggregation and discovery platform created by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.  Following this acquisition, Artifact will no longer operate as a standalone app. The proprietary AI-powered personalisation technology and other features will be integrated across Yahoo, including the Yahoo News app in the next few months. 

The acquisition advances Yahoo's commitment to bringing trusted news and information to hundreds of millions of users globally, said the release. It also accelerates Yahoo's vision to offer a more personalised experience for discovering news and information across platforms. 

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“Yahoo was one of the first to combine human and algorithmic curation of news. Since then, the landscape of machine learning and personalisation has changed dramatically and Artifact has innovated with best-in-class technology to meet the moment,” said Kat Downs Mulder, SVP and general manager of Yahoo News.

“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.”

Artifact’s mission was focused on delivering the most relevant stories to users through AI, utilising proprietary technology to provide curated news and content experiences.

Bringing these capabilities into the Yahoo portfolio accelerates the opportunity to connect users with even richer content experiences and tailored personalisation, added the release. 

“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,” said Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Artifact.

“AI has allowed us to give users a better experience discovering great content they care about. Yahoo recognises that opportunity, and we could not be more excited to see what we’ve built live on through Yahoo News.”

Artifact is a “personalised news feed driven by artificial intelligence (AI)”, according to its site. The app was announced by Systrom and Krieger on Twitter where the pair invited users to sign up and join the community.

The app is still in private beta mode but in an interview with Platformer, a site for social network and platform news, Systrom said that the simplest way to understand the app is to think of it as a TikTok for text. The app opens to a feed of popular articles that have been carefully chosen from a curated list of publishers. These publishers will include sites such as The New York Times, small-scale blogs focusing on niche topics and more. When you tap on an article, Artifact’s algorithm will take note and deliver similar posts and stories for you in the future.

According to the Financial Times, the app also uses AI to ensure that it avoids “filter bubbles” by also promoting content that may challenge previously held views. The app essentially encapsulates its name and represents the merging of articles, facts, and artificial intelligence. 

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