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A group with ex-Twitter programmers as leaders is rethinking the use of AI to help people process news and information. Particle.news, a new startup, launched its private beta version over the weekend. It provides a personalized news reading experience that utilizes AI to summarize news from multiple perspectives. The platform also promises to compensate authors and publishers fairly.
Particle has not disclosed its revenue model yet, but it is launching at a time when there is increasing worry about the influence of AI on a news environment that is increasingly contracting. AI-generated summaries of news may decrease traffic to publishers’ websites, impacting their advertising revenue.
The firm was established last year by Sara Beykpour, a former senior director of product management at Twitter. Beykpour was involved in developing products such as Twitter Blue, Twitter Video, and chats and led the creation of the experimental app, twttr. She worked at Twitter from 2015 to 2021, advancing from a software engineering role to become a senior director of product management. The co-founder is Marcel Molina, a former senior developer at Twitter and Tesla.
Beykpour revealed Particle last month, which uses artificial intelligence to make keeping up with the news easier.
At times, it seems like we only have time for headlines. She expressed a desire to get a deeper understanding at a quicker pace in an introduction to the startup on Threads. “We are in the initial phases of utilizing AI to revolutionize our interaction with news.”
Particle provides users with a concise, bullet-pointed overview of news stories, sourcing information from several sources. When introducing the private beta, Beykpour said that users have the option to either use the synopsis for a quick understanding or go further into the details to comprehend how a tale has progressed.
Along with numerous angel investors like Ev Williams, co-founder of Twitter and Medium, and Scott Belsky, creator of Behance, the company has received funding from Kindred Ventures and Adverb Ventures as well as venture capital.
Belsky said on X, “Particle has become an essential app in my daily routine.” The tool consolidates several articles and perspectives on a news issue, presents the main points in an unbiased manner, and allows for in-depth exploration from multiple sides. “In the upcoming era of abstraction, he provided a great example of AI in daily life,” he stated.
Particle provides a technology demo on its website for users who are not signed in. The demo showcases articles with their summaries, timestamps of the latest update, and sources they are sourced from in a tiny column at the bottom.
The sources include a wide range of political perspectives and feature prominent publications such as The New York Times, CNBC, the AP, ABC, CNN, Breitbart, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Politico, Fox News, USA Today, The Daily Caller, New York Post, The Hill, and others. The demographics demonstrate the use of international sources when appropriate. Each bullet point lacks direct links to its original sources, complicating the process of fact-checking the AI summary without thoroughly examining all the articles. (Key words are connected.) Additionally, we saw that the image in the news summary is tagged with the publisher’s logo.
The final result may vary since Particle is now starting its private beta testing and plans to develop a mobile app in the future, as it is seeking a senior iOS engineer.
Before closing down, Artifact, a company that the co-founders of Instagram founded, used a similar strategy of using a variety of news sources and AI for summarization. Artifact’s team selected news sources in advance, depending on their integrity and quality. The outlet must promptly fix any errors and openly disclose its funding sources. We want to discuss in depth how Particle evaluates its sources more thoroughly before a public debut.
Bulletin, a new AI-driven news application, was just released to combat clickbait and provide news summaries.
Particle’s distinguishing factor might be its founding team’s high level of interest in this field. Coming from Twitter, the co-founders have firsthand experience with a real-time news environment and possess the technical and product expertise necessary to create a high-quality solution. It is uncertain if publishers who believe that AI is encroaching on their territory will feel adequately remunerated.
April Underwood, co-founder and managing director of Adverb Ventures, commended Particle in a LinkedIn post about the firm’s investment.
She said that they supported them while they were finalizing their first closure for Fund 1. They had to wait for their first capital call to transfer the money. Adverb just completed its $75 million Fund I a few months ago. “Sara and Marcel are the ideal founders we aspired to support when we established a new early-stage firm. They are addressing a significant issue. They possess the expertise to address significant challenges with a high standard of product excellence. Underwood said that they can persuade other bright individuals to join them and, together, create a future that customers are not yet aware they want.
Underwood elucidated the forthcoming opportunity:
In terms of the space, we believe AI is going to touch every aspect of people’s digital lives at work and at home. Couple that with the pre-existing conditions at play here — it’s hard to find breaking news from sources you can trust, and the social media landscape is rapidly evolving — and you have to believe that the way people consume news is going to be different a few years from now. Sara and Marcel are uniquely qualified to help people get the news they need in a modern way.
