Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have decided to shut down Artifact, their Artificial Intelligence-powered news application, less than a year after its initial launch. Citing limited market opportunities, the app, which employs advanced machine learning techniques to personalise user experiences, will cease operations by the end of February.
In a blog post, the makers announced the decision, stating, “To our Artifact Users and Partners, We’ve made the decision to wind down operations of the Artifact app. Artifact will continue to operate the core news reading capability through the end of February.” Systrom clarified that while the app had a dedicated user base, the market opportunity wasn’t substantial enough to justify continued investment.
Despite adding features like AI-powered article summaries, commenting, and a Twitter-like posting feature, the app faced challenges in content moderation. The team’s small size couldn’t support the extensive moderation required for these features. The shutdown will occur gradually over the next few weeks, starting with the suspension of new post and comment functionalities.
While Artifact struggled to find a distinct product-market fit and faced competition in conversational engagement platforms, Systrom remains optimistic about exploring new ideas in the AI space, which he sees as full of possibilities.
