Noscroll: The AI Bot That Curates Your News and Ends Doomscrolling
In an era where staying informed often leads to endless scrolling through social media feeds—a practice colloquially known as doomscrolling—a new startup named Noscroll offers a refreshing solution. This AI-powered bot is designed to browse your social feeds, news sites, and other online platforms, delivering concise updates directly to you via text messages.
Noscroll’s tagline encapsulates its mission: no feed. no brainrot. no ragebait. just signal. The service aims to filter out the noise and provide users with only the most pertinent information, eliminating the need for constant engagement with potentially overwhelming content.
The concept is straightforward yet technologically sophisticated. Noscroll acts as a personal news curator, sifting through vast amounts of online information to deliver what matters most to you. This innovation comes from Nadav Hollander, the former Chief Technology Officer at the NFT marketplace OpenSea. After selling his decentralized finance startup to OpenSea in 2022, Hollander found himself grappling with the addictive nature of social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter).
It’s phenomenally entertaining and really informative in ways you just don’t get from normal media, Hollander shared with TechCrunch. But it’s so toxic culturally, and it’s just very upsetting to read, he added, likening the experience to consuming fast food: enjoyable in the moment but leaving one feeling terrible afterward.
Determined to stay informed without the negative side effects of constant social media engagement, Hollander developed Noscroll. The service launched publicly just a few days ago and has already garnered significant attention.
Getting started with Noscroll is simple. Users text the Noscroll AI agent at (415) 718-4828, receiving a link to connect their X account to the service. This connection allows Noscroll to access your likes, bookmarks, and the accounts and posts you follow, enabling it to tailor its updates to your interests.
Under the hood, Noscroll utilizes a variety of off-the-shelf AI models running on the company’s proprietary infrastructure. These models have been extensively customized to give the bot a unique voice and communication style.
Users can interact with the AI agent in natural language, specifying the types of news or topics they wish to follow and those they prefer to avoid. Based on these preferences, Noscroll prepares a sample digest.
The AI doesn’t limit itself to X; it aggregates information from a wide array of sources, including news sites, blogs, Reddit, Hacker News, Substack, and more. It can even tap into research papers, local politics, or any other sources you specify. This comprehensive approach ensures that you receive a well-rounded view of the topics you care about.
Instead of spending hours scrolling through feeds, Noscroll sends you news digests via text at your preferred frequency. Casual users might opt for weekly updates, while news enthusiasts can choose to receive texts multiple times per day. These digests include a collection of news links accompanied by brief AI-generated summaries. If a particular story piques your interest, you can tap the link to read the full article in your web browser.
Beyond delivering news, Noscroll allows for interactive engagement. You can reply to the AI bot to ask questions or have conversations about the news you’re reading, similar to interactions with other AI chatbots. Additionally, you can add Noscroll to group chats or Telegram groups, enabling collective engagement with the service. Support for other chat applications is planned for the future.
Noscroll is also equipped to recognize breaking news, sending immediate texts when significant events occur. This feature ensures that you’re always in the loop without the need to constantly monitor news sources.
The service is available for $9.99 per month, but it offers a free sample news digest and a seven-day trial period. You can cancel the subscription at any time, providing flexibility to users. Hollander notes that Noscroll may experiment with variable pricing in the future.
While Noscroll has clear applications for those in the tech industry who struggle to keep up with the constant stream of daily AI news and updates, its utility extends far beyond tech topics. Users can stay informed about virtually anything: reality TV, favorite bands, local news, friends’ posts, unread newsletters, and more.
Hollander has been pleasantly surprised by the diverse ways people are using Noscroll. People [are] following really niche anime industry news and local restaurant openings in Kyoto, he says. Users are also tracking job listings, monitoring layoffs, and more. Journalists have found the tool particularly useful for following local politics and events.
I think the archetype that’s been interesting is anybody who has a professional need to be very online and follow things very closely. It’s quite useful to have a deputy who’s kind of doing that for you on whatever your beat is, Hollander adds.
The AI bot has seen rapid adoption and has already attracted investor interest. Hollander, who built the bot alongside his friend, an open-source developer from the crypto world known by the username @z0age on X, says they have not yet decided how to proceed with the inbound attention.
Noscroll is available to try from Noscroll.com by clicking the Text your agent button.
