• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 2, 2024

Yahoo has pumped up its news delivery by acquiring Artifact, the AI-driven news platform created by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

Artifact will no longer be a standalone app – it will be integrated across Yahoo and the Yahoo News Network. 

“Yahoo was one of the first to combine human and algorithmic curation of news,” says Kat Downs Mulder, SVP and general manager of Yahoo 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.” 

The Artifact platform delivers a personalized feed of news stories to the user built on AI-powered curation. It also provides easy access to the news, along with link-sharing and tools to prevent click proliferation.

“AI has allowed us to give users a better experience discovering great content they care about,” says Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Artifact. “Yahoo recognizes that opportunity, and we could not be more excited to see what we’ve built live on through Yahoo News.”

With Meta cutting off the news flow and Google briefly removing its news filter in a test, it is refreshing to see a major tech firm investing in news delivery. In effect, Yahoo is saying “news matters.” And it’s just in time for the 2024 election.