For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved reading the news. Starting with The Hindu in my childhood and later The Economic Times, news kept me grounded and connected to the world.
But over time, I noticed something troubling:
Every publication had its own template and predictable tone.
My attention span was shrinking with long articles.
Popups, paywalls, and distracting ads made the experience painful.
I realized—the news industry is broken for modern readers.
The Problem I Saw
News is dopamine for everyone, but online media crowding has diluted its quality. Paywalls block access, ads ruin attention, and credible reporting often gets buried under noise.
I personally felt this pain back in 2015–2016 when I was preparing for government jobs. I needed reliable updates, especially on science and national news. But I couldn’t find a single consistent, clutter-free, trustworthy source.
The Eureka Moment
Then came the golden era of generative AI. I had a simple thought:
What if we could summarize credible, paid-quality news and make it accessible to everyone—without ads or paywalls?
That thought became TheReader.AI.
How We Built It
TheReader.AI isn’t just “AI summarizing articles.” We focused on credibility + relevance:
Curated Sources: Only from trusted, credible media outlets.
AI Summarization: Generative AI condenses articles into bite-sized, clear summaries.
Ranking Algorithm: We score articles based on recency, emotional weight, and category importance.
No Ads, No Popups: A clean reading experience, designed to respect attention.
Our goal was never just automation, but quality-first automation.
The Million-Dollar Question
Friends and family ask me: “Will this ever be profitable without ads?”
The truth: I don’t know. And honestly, profit wasn’t the reason I built it. The mission was to restore the joy of reading credible news—the kind of news that keeps you informed without draining your attention.
Why I’m Sharing This on Dev.to
I believe developers and builders will resonate with this. Because it’s not just about news—it’s about how technology (and especially AI) can reshape broken experiences we’ve accepted for too long.
If you’ve ever felt frustrated with the current state of online news, I’d love for you to check out TheReader.AI
and share your thoughts.
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