While most assume the closure of an app means the end, that may not be the case for Artifact, the AI-powered news aggregator. Earlier this year, the app's creators Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger had announced winding down operations, stating that “the market opportunity isn‚Äôt big enough to warrant continued investment.”
However, according to a recent TechCrunch report, Systrom has clarified that while they said they wouldn't be continuing active development, he and Krieger have not given up hope of maintaining the existing service. With the founders currently solely running Artifact themselves, it is eyeing to continue delivering personalized news curations through AI for the foreseeable future.
Launched in early 2023, Artifact analyzes user behavior and interests to surface personalized, relevant news content. It added social features like comments and shared posts along with AI summaries. However, moderating such engagement proved challenging for its small eight-member team.
While Artifact hasn't seen mass adoption as envisioned, its creators still have funding to sustain ongoing operations for now. Only time will tell how long the AI app manages to stay afloat on the goodwill of its founders, despite earlier announcing closure plans. But for current users, Artifact continues delivering a personalized newspaper experience through algorithmic curation for a while longer.
