Yahoo has announced the acquisition of a artificial intelligence startup called Artifact, founded by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The Artifact platform develops recommendation algorithms for AI-based personalized news discovery.

Yahoo acquires Artifact for news algorithms

Initially launched in 2020, Artifact uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to show users news tailored to their interests. It had a news app for this purpose. However, facing challenges competing with large resources, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger decided to shut down Artifact.

This move caught the attention of Yahoo, which has more than 185 million monthly users. Particularly interested in enhancing the personalization and recommendation capabilities of Yahoo News, the company announced the acquisition of Artifact’s technology and algorithms after negotiations.

Kat Downs Mulder, General Manager of Yahoo News, stated that the acquisition included Artifact’s expertise. Instead of directly acquiring the company, an agreement was reached only for the recommendation algorithms and technology patents. These services are expected to be integrated into Yahoo News.

With the Artifact acquisition, Yahoo News is expected to be more successful in categorizing content and organizing engaging topics. This means that a more personalized news feed can be offered to each user.

Yahoo shuts down its China operations Although the Artifact app will be discontinued, machine learning models will be integrated into Yahoo News and other Yahoo products in the coming months. Systrom and Krieger stated that with this agreement, their developed technology will reach millions of users.