At a time when AI technology is developing rapidly, the media industry is still cautious about the application of artificial intelligence. However, Particle, an AI news reading application founded by a former Twitter engineer, is trying to break this deadlock. It is committed to providing users with a more convenient and in-depth news reading experience and exploring win-win cooperation with traditional media organizations. Particle not only integrates multiple AI models, but also develops unique features such as the "Explanation Like I'm Five" and the "Look at the Facts Only" model, aiming to help users better understand news information and avoid information cocoons. .
Amid the current media industry's cautious attitude towards AI, an AI news reading application called Particle is trying to change this situation. The app, developed by former Twitter engineers, is designed to help users better understand news while seeking win-win cooperation with traditional media organizations.
Particle was co-founded by former Twitter senior director of product management Sara Beykpour and former Twitter and Tesla senior engineer Marcel Molina. The company received $4.4 million in seed funding and received $10.9 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed.
Unlike other AI news tools, Particle adopts a unique operating model. The application not only provides users with a summary of news points, but also develops a number of innovative features. Users can use the "Explanation Like I'm Five" mode to get a simplified version of complex news, or choose the "Look at the facts only" mode to understand the five W elements of news (who, what, when, where, why). In addition, the application supports multilingual summary and news audio playback functions.
In terms of business model, Particle has established partnerships with several media outlets such as Reuters, AFP and Fortune to access its content through APIs. Partner media gets priority placement in the app, with links highlighted in gold. The design of the application fully considers traffic conversion, including highlighting the source link of the article, displaying reporter's avatars and other details, and is committed to bringing actual value to the media.
Particle's two highlights are worth paying attention to: one is the "opposite" tool, which displays the reporting angles of the same event by media in different political tendencies, helping users break the information cocoon; the other is the AI chatbot function, allowing users to make news content Ask in-depth questions and get instant answers.
At the technical level, Particle integrates multiple AI models such as OpenAI's GPT-4, Anthropic, and Cohere, and combines Google's traditional AI technology. The company claims its technology can reduce the incidence of AI accuracy problems from one percent to one ten thousand. In addition, Particle plans to introduce human editing to optimize AI content management and homepage planning.
Beykpour said Particle is exploring more ways to work with the media, including discussing reasonable access mechanisms for paywall content. At present, the app has been launched for free on the iOS platform and supports iPhone and iPad devices.
The emergence of Particle provides new possibilities for the application of AI in the field of news. It not only provides users with a more convenient way to obtain news, but also brings new opportunities for cooperation to media organizations. In the future, it remains to be tested whether Particle can successfully change the media industry's view on AI, but its innovative models and business models are worth paying attention to.