AI-news app Artifact, backed by Instagram co-founders, forced to shut shop within 1 year of launch

Artifact, the news aggregation app driven by artificial intelligence, launched by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is set to shut down just one year after its January 2023 debut. In a blog post announcing the closure, Systrom cited the app’s loyal user base but revealed that the overall market opportunity wasn’t substantial enough to justify ongoing investment.

“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,” stated Systrom.

Artifact, throughout its brief existence, introduced various features such as AI-powered article summaries, the ability to comment on and identify articles as clickbait, and a Twitter-like posting function.

However, the latter features required significant moderation that the small 8-person team at Artifact struggled to adequately support.

To facilitate the transition, Artifact will gradually wind down features over the coming weeks, starting with the disabling of the ability to create new posts and comments.

Existing posts will remain visible temporarily as the team works to reduce moderation needs. The core news aggregation function will continue to operate until the end of February, allowing users time to seek alternative services.

Despite the shutdown, Systrom expressed optimism about the future, stating that he was personally excited to explore new ideas in the AI space. The challenges faced by Artifact, including increased competition in the market for Twitter-like conversation platforms and the sluggish growth of news aggregators, likely contributed to its struggle to find a clear product-market fit.

Artifact attempted to distinguish itself through AI-powered features like rewritten article summaries, but its identity never solidified into a coherent offering. The app struggled to define itself as a conversation platform, link-sharing service, or AI-enhanced news engine, and this lack of focus, coupled with the demands of content moderation, posed significant challenges to its scalability.

(With inputs from agencies)