Yahoo just launched Scout, and it’s… actually good?
This morning I had a question after seeing mold growing in coffee I’d left on my table from yesterday. Why does mold grow so fast in coffee?
The UI Feels Slightly Novel
Every AI chatbot looks the same. Scout does something slightly different: the links are inline, flowing with the text like actual hyperlinks. Like how the web used to work. It sounds small but suddenly you’re reading something that feels connected to the web, not a summary designed to keep you from ever leaving.
Built on Claude
Yahoo! isn’t building their own foundation model. They’re using Claude and layering their own data on top — Yahoo Sports, Finance, Weather, the things that people still use Yahoo! for (i guess).
This seems like an ideal place for Yahoo! who can leverage their existing data, and not try to invent their own model.
Maybe Better for the Web?
The inline links thing isn’t just aesthetics! If people actually click through to sources, that’s… good? For publishers, for the web, for the whole ecosystem that AI search has been threatening to flatten.
Google’s AI Mode feels like Gemini awkwardly stuffed into Search and wants you to stay in Google search. This feels like what search would look like if it was built around AI from the start, but still cared about sending you places.
I clicked through half of the links in my query!
Yahoo’s Weird Full Circle Moment
Thirty years ago, Yahoo was “Jerry’s guide to the world wide web”, a portal to help people find good stuff. Then search made that obsolete. Now we’re back to needing guides again, because the web is too big and too noisy and search is being eaten by slop.