Artificial intelligence has its downsides, but its upsides are also undeniable. There is no better tool for tackling repetitive tasks at scale. And filtering junk is the ultimate repetitive task.
An Austin-based startup named the Otherweb promises to do just that.
With its revolutionary new AI-based engine, the Otherweb scrapes thousands of articles each day, filters the junk out, and delivers a purified stream of informative, accurate information to its readers.
"We've developed a suite of natural language processing models to filter junk out. This allows us to make a platform where everything you encounter is guaranteed to have a certain level of quality." says Alex Fink, the founder and CEO of the company.
"Reading the news makes people unhappy. It also, paradoxically, makes people less informed. We decided it's time to create a viable solution." he continues.
The app's AI engine rewrites all headlines (to eliminate the risk of clickbait), summarizes each article into 3-5 bullet points, and attaches a nutrition label to each item - so people can find out whether an item is worth consuming, before they consume it.
In addition, the app integrates wikipedia, research studies, books and online courses, as well as podcasts and a built-in search engine. This allows its users to highlight any phrase they see in a news article - and dive deeper into the topic with a single click.
"Our mission is to improve the quality of information people consume online. To be informed, effortlessly." Fink adds.
The app is available on the web, on iOS, and on Android. It is currently free and ad-free.