Ask.com, which initially started as Ask Jeeves, has officially ceased operations.
“As IAC continues to narrow its focus, we have made the decision to end our search operations, including Ask.com. After 25 years of providing answers, Ask.com officially shut down on May 1, 2026,” states the homepage.
Friendster is back! However, connections are only possible with offline friends.
Ask Jeeves was established in 1997 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen, a year prior to the surge in popularity of Google’s search engine. At launch, Ask Jeeves’ natural language capabilities and distinctive branding made it a preferred choice among early web users. The site’s butler character, Jeeves, inspired by the P.G. Wodehouse figure, even featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, appearing alongside other prominent corporate logos of the early 2000s.
“Can a single individual possess all the answers?” With access to the whole internet, indeed.
Although many still refer to it by its original moniker, Ask.com hasn’t been “Ask Jeeves” for nearly twenty years, having retired the latter name and character in 2006. This change occurred following a transition in ownership to IAC. In 2009, Ask.com was designated as the official search engine for NASCAR.
“We are profoundly thankful to the skilled engineers, designers, and teams who developed and maintained Ask throughout the years. And to you — the millions of users who sought answers from us in a swiftly evolving world — we appreciate your curiosity, loyalty, and trust,” reads Ask.com. “Jeeves’ legacy remains.”
With the emergence of AI-driven search engines and the rebranding of AI agents as the future of web browsing, the discontinuation of Ask.com signifies the conclusion of the early dot-com era. Goodbye Jeeves, hello AI.