Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger's news app, Artifact, is set to cease operations merely a year post-launch. Despite utilizing an AI-driven approach to curate personalized news suggestions, the app failed to resonate widely, leading the Artifact team to opt for its discontinuation.
 |
| Artifact news app | Photo Credit: Artifact |
- Personalized news app Artifact, created by Instagram founders, is shutting down after just one year due to low user engagement.
- Despite using AI to curate news, Artifact failed to gain traction and is now being discontinued.
Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger's news app, Artifact, is set to cease operations merely a year post-launch. Despite utilizing an AI-driven approach to curate personalized news suggestions, the app failed to resonate widely, leading the Artifact team to opt for its discontinuation.
Systrom and Krieger, after leaving Instagram in 2018, remained silent for several years. Rumors swirled about their next venture, with many speculating on a return to the world of social media.
Then, in January 2023, came the surprise announcement: Artifact, a news app unlike any other. Personalized news without the filter bubbles. Artifact would leverage AI to curate a feed not just based on trending topics or your search history, but on your actual reading habits and engagement. No more algorithms pushing echo chambers; here, the focus was on surfacing diverse perspectives and fostering genuine intellectual curiosity.
Artifact launched initially in private beta, accessible only to a select group of early adopters. This period was crucial for refining the AI algorithms and gathering user feedback. The interface was sleek and intuitive, with a vertical scroll of articles presented without headlines or logos, encouraging users to focus on the content itself.
Engagement features like "notes" and "highlights" allowed users to annotate articles and share their thoughts with others, fostering a sense of community and sparking deeper conversations around the news.
But the real magic lay in the "For You" section, where the AI's curation skills shone. Articles seemed to appear out of thin air, each one a fascinating surprise that piqued the user's interest. In February 2023, Artifact opened its doors to the public. The initial wave of excitement was met with challenges. The limited number of sources, primarily established publications, left some users yearning for more diverse voices. Concerns about potential bias in the AI's recommendations also surfaced.
However, instead of retreating, the Artifact team embraced these challenges head-on. They expanded their source base, incorporating independent publishers and niche voices. They launched features like "Explore" and "Links" to give users more control over their feed and discover content beyond the AI's suggestions. They also actively engaged with the community, addressing concerns and incorporating feedback into their development roadmap.
In a blog post, CEO Kevin Systrom acknowledged the app's popularity among a dedicated user base but deemed the market opportunity insufficient to justify continued investment. The wind-down process begins immediately, prohibiting users from adding new comments or posts. Artifact, however, will sustain news reading capabilities "through the end of February."
"We have built something that a core group of users love, but we have concluded that the market opportunity isn’t big enough to warrant continued investment in this way," - Kevin Systrom
Since its debut in January 2023, Artifact introduced notable features, including AI-powered article summaries, in-app article comments, and a unique function allowing users to identify and rephrase clickbait articles using AI. Expanding beyond its original news-focused concept, Artifact enabled users to share web links and utilize a Twitter-like posts feature. Despite these enhancements, features such as comments and posts necessitated a level of moderation that the current staff cannot sustain, according to Systrom.
The team of eight individuals dedicated to Artifact will disband as the app concludes its operations. Systrom expressed personal excitement about venturing into new projects, highlighting the seemingly boundless opportunities within the ecosytem of AI.