Artifact has come to an end, but the Yahoo version of Artifact will live on. The architecture behind Artifact, the news aggregation app created by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, will be preserved in the new Yahoo News app.
The new Yahoo News app is now available for download on iOS and Android. It provides AI-driven personalized news recommendations based on users' interests, as well as a feature called "Key Takeaways" that offers summary points of news articles for readers who find them too long to read.
Other features of the Yahoo News app include "Top Stories," which curates hot news for users to read and will soon include summary points. Users can block news containing unwanted keywords and filter out certain publishers based on their preferences. Similar to Artifact, Yahoo News allows users to flag content like clickbait headlines and have AI rewrite them into better content.
Yahoo acquired Artifact in April for an undisclosed price, saving it from complete extinction. Artifact lost its way in its final stages as it attempted to become a social media platform similar to Twitter, despite its initial goal of being the "TikTok of text." Yahoo has not stated that it will bring back all of Artifact's social features, but this new app allows users to share article excerpts with friends. It also features a game-like "continuous reading" function and badges to showcase that you are an avid reader.
Yahoo has also brought some features from the news app to the Yahoo News online homepage. Starting today, the website will have a new layout that highlights top news, provides personalized recommendations, and displays trending topics. The new homepage experience is optional.
