Particle, the startup behind an AI-powered newsreader that goals to assist publishers, not simply steal their work, is bringing its product to the net. On Tuesday, the corporate introduced the launch of the brand new Particle.news web site that connects information customers with headlines and AI summaries from a wide range of sources, plus the flexibility to delve into varied classes like Know-how, Sports activities, Leisure, Politics, Science, Crime, Economics, and Video Video games, along with looking the day’s hottest tales on the house web page.
The corporate thinks that bringing its product to the net will assist to achieve extra readers, giving them a special method to sustain with the information utilizing AI expertise enhancements.
Like the prevailing Particle cellular app, the positioning provides AI instruments designed to assist customers 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 in regards to the story through an AI chatbot. These questions and solutions from customers can be found on the brand new web site, however the web site doesn’t but provide the flexibility to work together with the AI immediately.
Whereas studying the information on Particle, if you wish to be taught extra a few subject, you may entry “entity pages” that element details about a particular individual, product, or group talked about within the story. For example, once you see the phrase “Trump” or “Knicks” or “Nintendo Change” highlighted in a headline or information abstract, you may click on via to a web page providing fundamental info pulled from Wikipedia and hyperlinks to extra tales in regards to the topic.
Particle additionally highlights the information retailers overlaying a narrative by sharing hyperlinks to their tales immediately alongside its AI summaries. In early exams on cellular, the corporate discovered that readers have been clicking via to the publishers’ websites through 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 via to learn extra.
Plus, when customers share a hyperlink from Particle’s cellular app, it is going to 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 occasions, significantly when some publishers attempted 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 site 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 guardian firm, Yahoo, which acquired the Artifact information app from Instagram’s co-founders to revamp its News app with AI-powered options.
Bloomberg, Gannett (USA At the moment), The Wall Street Journal, and others, have additionally been experimenting with AI article summaries. Nevertheless, readers are doubtless much less forgiving of AI’s errors on the information retailers’ web sites the place they’re immediately reporting the information, in contrast with an unbiased app dedicated to AI summaries and Q&As.