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Users are taking to social media to bid farewell to their favorite search engine of their childhood
Ask Jeeves is officially shutting down after 30 years, and the Internet is mourning the iconic search engine
If you grew up during the Wild West of Web 1.0, bring a tissue. Ask.com – the search engine formerly known as Ask Jeeves – has officially shut down its search business effective May 1, 2026. After 30 years of trying to answer our most bizarre queries in natural language, the white-gloved icon is hanging up his bib for good.
While most of the GenZ audience didn’t like this news, Jeeves, born in Berkeley, California in 1996, was more than just a search bar; He was a pioneer. Long before users were using ChatGPT, they were politely asking Jeffs for help.
From 2000 to 2004, Jeffs was a giant balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and was later also a sponsor of NASCAR. While Google focused on keywords, Jeeves wanted them to speak naturally, making him the “great-grandfather of artificial intelligence.” The popular search engine “retired” in 2006 (dropping the Jeeves name) and even went 3D for a while.
Parent company IAC announced the closure this week, saying it was “increasing its focus” elsewhere. While the website claims that “the spirit of Jeeves lives on,” the search bar is actually dark.
I’m sorry to inform you that Ask Jeeves has passed away. The site was closed yesterday. Web 1.0 has lost another founder. Ask Jeeves: June 3, 1996 – May 1, 2026. Don’t send any memes. pic.twitter.com/mlwEOiJkTE
– Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) May 2, 2026
X (formerly Twitter) is expected to see a meltdown on the Internet. “We’ve gone from Ask Jeeves to arguing with AI… what a timeline 💀,” one user noted, while another pointed out the missed opportunity of the century: “The fact that Ask Jeeves didn’t resurrect Jeeves as an AI bot is a crime against the internet.”
As news of the closure spread, users shared their key memories of the site:
“The first question I asked Jeeves was, ‘How can flies walk upside down?’ and he didn’t know the answer.”
“Dang, I remember using it all the time growing up. Rest in peace, Jeeves 🙏”
“You don’t realize how much something affects your habits until it’s gone.”
It has survived Connie, the AOL mascot, and millions of millennials who still remember the joy of typing an entire sentence into a search engine for the first time.
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