In a surprising turn of events, Artifact, the news application spearheaded by Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is shutting down merely a year after its much-anticipated launch. Despite its innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend news articles tailored to individual user preferences, the app struggled to amass a sufficiently large user base.
Artifact CEO Kevin Systrom addressed the closure in a blog post, stating, “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.”
The app has already begun the shutdown process. Users can no longer comment or share new posts, but they will still have access to read news until the end of February.
Since its debut in late January 2023, Artifact introduced several features aiming to set it apart. These include AI-generated article summaries, the ability to engage in discussions within the app, and a unique feature allowing users to label articles as clickbait, triggering automatic reworking by AI.
Artifact’s scope extended beyond traditional news articles, enabling users to share interesting web content and engage in a Twitter-like posting feature. However, CEO Kevin Systrom admitted that features like comments and posts required a significant level of moderation and supervision, resources that the team could not sustain.
Despite the setback, Systrom expresses gratitude for the team’s efforts and acknowledges the dedication of a core group of users. The team, consisting of eight individuals dedicated to Artifact, will now disperse to pursue their respective paths. Systrom remains optimistic about new ventures and emphasizes the limitless possibilities for innovative AI-driven ideas.
The closure of Artifact marks the end of an ambitious endeavor by Instagram’s co-founders to revolutionize the way users consume and engage with news. As the team embarks on new journeys, the industry will be watching for their future contributions and innovations.
