Yahoo's AI efforts aren't over yet. The TechCrunch parent company recently launched AI-powered features for Yahoo Mail, including Priority Inbox in Gmail and a unique AI-powered email summary. It also released an AI-powered version of its Yahoo News app today, leveraging technology from its recent acquisition of Artifact. Yahoo has more AI plans in the works, including for its Yahoo News properties on the web.
Code references on the newly redesigned Yahoo News website indicate that Yahoo is testing an AI summarization feature, presumably to help visitors get a quick grasp on news without having to read the entire article.
However, while the Yahoo News app is learning from Artifact when it comes to offering AI features, the AI summaries feature on Yahoo News is not related to the company's acquisition of the popular AI news app created by the founders of Instagram that was shut down after failing to reach a wider audience.
Reached for comment, Yahoo told TechCrunch that AI summaries on the web have been in testing for several months, but that the tests are taking place on a single-digit percentage of article pages on the Yahoo News web experience, which could explain why most visitors to the Yahoo News website haven't encountered these AI summaries yet.
The code reveals little about the underlying technology Yahoo is using for its AI summaries, other than how the summaries are displayed to site visitors — in a lightbox, a type of web component used to display content. Yahoo didn't provide details about the technology itself or when it might be available to the public, although the company has partnered with OpenAI on its Yahoo News mobile app.
Combined with the Artifact-inspired revamp of Yahoo News and the AI features being rolled out to Yahoo Mail, it's clear that Yahoo is looking to use AI to jumpstart its traditional web products and services. Of course, it remains to be seen whether adding AI alone will be enough to attract new users.