Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have launched Artifact, a personalized newsfeed application that is now available for both iOS and Android platforms. The app is designed to help users discover news articles and stories that align with their interests using machine learning and algorithms. Artifact focuses on text and uses AI to prioritize content for users. It has been described as a text-based version of TikTok, as it aims to improve the user experience with AI.
The platform allows users to interact with friends publicly and privately, and also enables commenting and content sharing. It has a statistics feature that visualizes the categories and editors users prefer and allows users to indicate when they do not like a particular article or editor.
The platform highlights that only quality publishers will be included in the app’s “menu” — fake news will not have a place. Categories must meet integrity criteria to earn space on Artifact — such as fact-checking and corrections process and transparency, among other factors. The intention is also to be able to pierce the so-called “bubbles”, since several pieces of news on the same subject can be presented — with different headlines and analyses.
The platform has dropped its waiting list and phone number requirements and is now available to everyone. The app was previously only available by invitation, and the waitlist included around 160,000 sign-ups.
Artifact is currently only available in English, and for now, only international publications are available on the platform. However, the app has introduced new features aimed at personalizing the user experience, including visualizing reading history, and seeing what’s popular in the user’s network. Users can also provide feedback on articles and publishers using the thumbs-down symbol.
The app’s launch has been highly anticipated, with its announcement in January generating initial demand. The Artifact team has expressed its hope that the app will provide users with control over what they see in their feed and a new lens into what they and their network find most interesting. The app’s release comes at a time when news curation is becoming increasingly important, and the use of machine learning and AI can help users discover news articles and stories that align with their interests.
Artifact has been compared to Google Reader, an RSS newsreader app that Google retired in 2013. However, Artifact’s use of AI and machine learning has the potential to improve the user experience significantly. Kevin Systrom has stated that his experiences at Instagram have shown that every time machine learning has been used to improve the consumer experience, the results have been positive.
Artifact’s personalized newsfeed has also drawn comparisons to popular Asian news apps Toutiao and SmartNews as well. These apps also rely on algorithms and machine learning technology to curate a set of news articles for each user based on their engagement with the app’s content.
However, Artifact’s focus on text-based news sets it apart from the video-heavy content found on Toutiao and the image-driven layout of SmartNews. Despite these differences, the use of advanced technology to personalize news feeds for users appears to be a trend gaining popularity among news app developers.
