Ask.com Shuts Down After 30 Years, Ending One of the Web's Oldest Search Engines
HankYeomans · x · 2026-09-21
IAC has discontinued its search business, officially closing Ask.com on May 1, 2026 after 30 years of operation. The site, originally launched as "Ask Jeeves" with its iconic butler persona, was an early pioneer of natural-language question-answering search. In its farewell note, "A Farewell to Ask.com | 30 Years of Curiosity," the company thanked the engineers, designers, and teams who built it over decades, as well as millions of loyal users, closing with "Jeeves' spirit endures." Its shutdown is a symbolic marker of legacy search giving way to the AI answer era.
More from Companies & People
- X exec Nikita Bier: seasoned software execs ill-equipped for AI's probabilistic products — nikitabier · 2026-09-21
- X exec: seasoned software execs ill-suited for probabilistic AI products, young builders hold the edge — nikitabier · 2026-09-21
- AI-assisted VFX: 253 shots in one week for House of David S2, vs 10-12 weeks before — cuenca · 2026-09-21
- Why China lets charisma-free nerds reach the top: the Liang Wenfeng effect — teortaxesTex · 2026-09-21
- Students land first sales and pitch an AI judge in week 2 of this startup camp — nateliason · 2026-09-21
- Gary Marcus corrects Jensen Huang: AI is highly profitable for Nvidia, not for OpenAI, Anthropic or their customers — GaryMarcus · 2026-09-21