Ask.com 'Ask Jeeves' search closes after 30 years

techMay 2, 2026521,623

On May 1, 2026, Ask.com posted a homepage farewell reading "Every great search must come to an end" and closed operations, retiring its Jeeves-era conversational search. The site began as Ask Jeeves in 1997 and later operated under parent company IAC, which confirmed the shutdown. Ask.com is credited with pioneering natural-language, conversational queries long before large language models reshaped search interfaces. Its closure ends one of the web’s oldest consumer search brands and highlights the shift toward AI-driven search products that replaced its original approach.

The old internet

@theoldinternet.bsky.social

Ask Jeeves has officially shut down on May 1, 2026, ending its 25-year run

91645d ago

Andre "Ran out of Jets" East131

Before Google took over Ask jeeves was the shit. I owe Jeeves for the discovery of The Hamster Dance and ebaumsworld

Richard Westmoreland ☕️76

Ironically now would have been the time to embrace AI and relaunch their identity

Business Decision Pikachu72

We forgot to ask Jeeves the one question that mattered. «are you ok?»

Sarah Viktoria 🇬🇧🏳️‍⚧️⚧️🦗55

It's been a long time since it was called Ask Jeeves. This is sad because I didn't know it was still going.

รℓσαɳε ℓყรɓεƭɦ 🏳️‍🌈43

this is like finding out alfred from batman died.

Michael Samonek23

Isn’t there someone you forgot to ask?

(Don’t) Nuke Them From Orbit 💥🌎18

So long old friend 🫡

Master Chief from Halo11

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

HIOM8

Who will answer for Jeeves's demise?

JackMcgraw 🇨🇦 8

It was the butler after all

matt howes7

It was launched on June 1, 1997. So almost 29 years... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ask.com

Jack Liu7

Murdered and for what? Sucking ass and being useless? Ok so murder us all then

Dragon Nexus5

This is like when you read a celebrity has died and you turn to the person next to you and ask "...didn't he die, like, 10 years ago?"

Eighth Day Arts4

It all seemed so innocent and fun back then 😢

Nebulosa da Chama ♀3

meanwhile, though not much of a silver lining, you can do searches WITHOUT AI using udm14.com

Nate3

Sponsor of the criminally underrated reality show "Treasure Hunters" that aired on NBC in 2006

Glenn Muir2

I know it only for a very dated joke on The Simpsons: "I know what we can Ask Jeeves! 'Why does he suck?'"

Coco2

Dang I would have been using it had I realized it still existed 🪦

Jake Gatenby2

Is he dead or did he retire? Regardless, I will miss asking Jeeves to google shit for me.

muad'dweeb🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸2

angels ask thee to thy rest

Mother Bones2

Jeeves? They shut down the unremarkable Jeeves when the loathsome Bixby is right there??

Chris DeLeon Ⓥ make your own games

@chrisdeleon.bsky.social

pouring one out today for jeeves RIP in a way he still lives on inside us. when people ask those of us questions who once asked jeeves a question, they are asking for jeeves to answer through us. it's on us to be the jeeves they can ask

4345d ago

Chris DeLeon Ⓥ make your own games39

in a world where people are asking LLMs everything we must carefully acknowledge a chain of knowledge, like learning wing chun from someone who learned it from someone who learned it from ip man. people in a generation will say with pride they learned an answer from someone who directly asked jeeves

Robert McNees

@mcnees.bsky.social

[Jeeves stumbles out the front door of ask.com corporate HQ, overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of an outside world he hardly recognizes after 25 years chained to a desk in the basement query dungeon]

4245d ago

Brian Dear3

That does it. My next band name is BASEMENT QUERY DUNGEON.

🏳️‍⚧️ Josie Nights (1997) 🇵🇹

@josie.zone

Fun fact: When I was working as an intern for the public radio show of now-disgraced journalist Leonard Lopate, literally every time I met with him to discuss a segment, he would "research" the topic by typing a long sentence on the Ask Jeeves searchbar

5545d ago

Sarah Viktoria 🇬🇧🏳️‍⚧️⚧️🦗

@sarahviktoria.bsky.social

It's been a long time since it was called Ask Jeeves. This is sad because I didn't know it was still going.

5545d ago

Stephanie King

@stephstephking.bsky.social

Can Tim Onion buy Ask Jeeves and just turn it into Google circa 2022 when it still worked

4345d ago

wolp

@brettnyanderson.bsky.social

Had the pleasure of meeting Ask Jeeves at a charity do once. He was surprisingly down to earth, and VERY funny.

2845d ago

DK Vine

@dkvine.com

Wait, is DK Vine really older than Ask Jeeves? I’d ask him, but he’s suddenly not answering me when I try to summon him.

3245d ago

Andre "Ran out of Jets" East

@iveseenfootage.bsky.social

Not only that but yourthemannowdog.ytmnd.com Homestarrunner.com Addictinggames GraalOnline Kingdomofloathing And more! Ask Jeeves literally changed my life and I never really thought about it til today

3345d ago

sebmal

@mrdo.pro

whats the point of all this crap if i cant even ask jeeves anymore

2544d ago

J.A. Prentice

@japrenticewrites.bsky.social

Ask Jeeves shutting down rather than trying to relaunch with some AI garbage is a more dignified end than I’d expect from a search engine.

2245d ago

Massimo (mirror)

@rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social

Ask. com, originally launched as Ask Jeeves in 1997, officially closed down operations on May 1, 2026, after nearly 30 years. A farewell message on the site thanked users and staff for nearly three decades of service. Original post