Particle, the startup known for its AI-powered mobile newsreader, is now expanding to the web. On Tuesday, the company officially launched Particle.news, a browser-based platform that helps users explore the latest headlines through AI-generated summaries and topic-specific content. The new site brings Particle’s mobile features to a wider audience, combining news consumption with AI technology in a way that aims to benefit—not exploit—publishers.
The site features top stories and categories like Technology, Sports, Politics, Science, Entertainment, Economics, Crime, and Video Games, providing users with a streamlined way to explore news they care about.
More Than Just Summaries: AI With Context
Like its mobile app, Particle’s website is designed to make news more accessible and digestible. It uses artificial intelligence to create concise summaries, highlight key quotes, and allow users to view commonly asked questions about a story. While the web version doesn’t yet support live Q&A chats with the AI, it does display past questions and answers relevant to the topic.
Another standout feature is “entity pages,” which offer quick background information on people, companies, or products mentioned in news stories. For example, if “Trump” or “Nintendo Switch” appears in a summary, users can click the highlighted term to open a dedicated page with basic information pulled from sources like Wikipedia—plus links to other stories covering the same topic.
By combining summaries, quotes, and entity context, Particle helps users not only consume the news faster but also understand the broader narrative behind headlines.
A Publisher-Friendly Approach to AI News
Unlike other AI tools that scrape or summarize publisher content without giving credit, Particle is focused on supporting publishers. Each AI summary includes direct links to original articles, encouraging users to read the full story from the source. This tactic has already shown promise—early mobile tests revealed readers were clicking through, prompting partnerships with outlets like Reuters, Fortune, and AFP.
The new website also includes related article links below summaries, further increasing traffic opportunities for publishers and encouraging users to dive deeper into stories.
When users share a story via Particle’s mobile app, recipients are directed to the matching summary and source on the website—allowing more people, even those without the app, to engage with Particle’s AI-enhanced news experience.
Particle’s founders—Sara Beykpour (formerly of Twitter) and Marcel Molina (ex-Twitter and Tesla engineer)—set out to build an AI product that augments journalism, not replaces it. Their $4.4 million seed funding and $10.9 million Series A led by Lightspeed reflect investor confidence in this balanced approach.
The company enters a growing field of AI-assisted news platforms. Yahoo recently acquired the Artifact app from Instagram’s co-founders to add AI features to its News app. Meanwhile, major outlets like Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and Gannett have also tested AI summaries—but often face backlash when AI errors appear on their own platforms.
Particle, by contrast, is positioned as a helper, not a replacement. It offers AI tools in a way that adds value to journalism while respecting its sources—an approach that might help it stand out as AI becomes more integrated with news.
