Particle, the startup behind an AI-powered newsreader that goals to assist publishers, not simply steal their work, is bringing its product to the online. On Tuesday, the corporate introduced the launch of the brand new Particle.information web site that connects information shoppers with headlines and AI summaries from quite a lot of sources, plus the flexibility to delve into numerous classes like Expertise, Sports activities, Leisure, Politics, Science, Crime, Economics, and Video Video games, along with searching the day’s hottest tales on the house web page.
The corporate thinks that bringing its product to the online will assist to succeed in extra readers, giving them a special solution to sustain with the information utilizing AI expertise enhancements.
Like the prevailing Particle cellular app, the location affords AI instruments designed to assist shoppers higher perceive the information. As an alternative of simply summarizing tales into key bullet factors for faster studying, Particle additionally extracts key quotes and permits customers to ask questions concerning the story by way of an AI chatbot. These questions and solutions from customers can be found on the brand new web site, however the website doesn’t but supply the flexibility to work together with the AI instantly.
Whereas studying the information on Particle, if you wish to study extra a few subject, you may entry “entity pages” that element details about a particular particular person, product, or group talked about within the story. As an example, if you see the phrase “Trump” or “Knicks” or “Nintendo Swap” highlighted in a headline or information abstract, you may click on by way of to a web page providing fundamental info pulled from Wikipedia and hyperlinks to extra tales concerning the topic.
Particle additionally highlights the information shops masking a narrative by sharing hyperlinks to their tales instantly alongside its AI summaries. In early exams on cellular, the corporate discovered that readers had been clicking by way of to the publishers’ websites by way of these hyperlinks, main Particle to start partnering with particular publishers like Reuters, Fortune, and the AFP to show their hyperlinks extra prominently.
On the brand new web site, Particle additionally shows hyperlinks to associated reporting on the backside of its AI summaries to maintain customers clicking by way of to learn extra.
Plus, when customers share a hyperlink from Particle’s cellular app, it would join readers with the devoted touchdown web page on the web site, opening up entry to Particle’s content material to extra readers, together with those that don’t have the app put in.
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The addition of AI into the information and journalism market has been controversial at instances, significantly when some publishers tried to outsource reporting to AI bots, resulting in a lot backlash. However Particle’s founders need to discover a manner to make use of AI to assist readers higher perceive the information, with out stealing visitors from publishers.
Particle was based in 2023 by the previous senior director of product administration at Twitter, Sara Beykpour, and a former senior engineer at Twitter and Tesla, Marcel Molina. It’s backed by $4.4 million in seed funding and a $10.9 million Sequence A led by Lightspeed.
Particle joins different efforts to leverage AI for information summaries, together with TechCrunch’s former mum or dad firm, Yahoo, which acquired the Artifact information app from Instagram’s co-founders to revamp its Information app with AI-powered options.
Bloomberg, Gannett (USA Immediately), The Wall Road Journal, and others, have additionally been experimenting with AI article summaries. Nevertheless, readers are seemingly much less forgiving of AI’s errors on the information shops’ web sites the place they’re instantly reporting the information, in contrast with an impartial app dedicated to AI summaries and Q&As.
