Artifact, the AI-powered news app developed by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is shutting down. This new broke out through a medium post by the founders on Friday, January 12, 2024, citing limited market opportunities as the primary reason for the shutdown.
Artifact was initially launched as a news reading app that used machine learning to personalize the user experience. Over time, it evolved into a platform for news curation and discovery, with features such as AI-powered article summaries and the ability to comment on articles within the app. Despite these features, Artifact struggled to define its identity, facing competition from other platforms and experiencing a decline in usage.
To facilitate a smooth transition for its users, Artifact will begin by disabling features like commenting and posting, which require moderation efforts. Existing posts will remain visible for the time being. The app will continue to operate its core news reading capability until the end of February 2024.
Despite the shutdown, Systrom expressed optimism about the future of news and information, emphasizing the critical role of technology, particularly AI, in supporting and growing news institutions.
On a personal level perplexity.ai discovery tab has replaced Artifact for me. feel free to check it out