Ask.com shuts down in 2026 ending the internet era of question based search

A natural language search pioneer goes dark May 1

Ask.com has officially shut down, with the site unavailable as of May 1, 2026. Once a trailblazer for natural language, question-based queries, it lasted nearly 20 years before its parent company IAC decided to exit the search business. The closure underscores how AI assistants and smarter search engines have replaced standalone platforms built for asking questions.