Yahoo has announced that it has acquired Artifact, the AI-driven news aggregation and discovery platform created by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
Artifact will no longer operate as a standalone app, but the proprietary AI-powered personalisation technology and other features will be integrated across Yahoo, including the Yahoo News app, in the months to come.
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. As a trusted guide to the internet, Yahoo helps people achieve their goals online, including connecting with high-quality content they care about. This investment advances Yahoo’s commitment to bringing trusted news and information to hundreds of millions of users globally and accelerates the vision to offer a more personalised experience for discovering news and information across platforms.
“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”.
“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’s AI-powered discovery engine surfaces content users most want to see and becomes more attuned to their interests over time. The result is a personalised feed of news stories that are extremely effective at helping users discover stories they want to read. In addition to curation,
Artifact offers a host of features aimed at improving the quality of the experience, from easy access to top news to link-sharing capabilities to tools to prevent clickbait proliferation. Adding these capabilities to Yahoo’s portfolio accelerates the opportunity to connect users with even richer content experiences and tailored personalisation.
Yahoo’s acquisition of Artifact closed on March 29, 2024. Artifact’s co-founders, CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger will work with Yahoo in an advisory capacity during this transition.
