A few months ago the launch of Artifact was announced, a new innovative platform with an approach based on artificial intelligence. Its creation was strongly supported by two former founders of Instagram, Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom and, at least initially, the project seemed destined to achieve positive results and public favor.
However, this was not the case. Artifact has already reached the end of the line. Its closure has been officially announced and, shortly, it will cease to exist completely. Let’s find out what it was about and why this drastic decision was made.
Artifact, what it was and how it worked
Artifact is a platform launched just a few months ago by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. A project that seemed destined for success, as it aimed to offer users a tool that would allow them to quickly identify news that is interesting to them and with a structure similar to that of social networks.
More precisely, it was about an application based on artificial intelligence who, by analyzing the actions of users, the length of time the articles were read, the topics, the actions performed on the web and the comments made, was able to suggest to users what they would like, making a careful selection from the news published by newspapers, magazines and web portals, but not only.
Artifact was even capable of prepare summaries of the articlesfavoring quick reading, and allowed users to share links to increase diffusionof specific news and to comment with their own point of view and considerations on what they had read. To increase the quality of the suggested news, it was possible to report content that was not very relevant or had misleading titles such as clickbait.
Despite the different features and its undeniable potential, the project foundered about a year after its launch, which took place in January 2023. In February the contents section will be removed, while the area relating to comments on articles and posts has already been closed. The reasons are soon explained
Artifact, because the application was closed
The basis of this drastic decision is the failure of Artifact. Despite the large number of subscribers to the platform, it was not possible to obtain sufficient monetization, which is essential to keep such an ambitious project afloat and to finance its development.
The objective, therefore, was not achieved results obtained are not sufficient to justify a continuous investment, necessary if we consider that the section dedicated to news alone required a significant effort for moderation and supervision.
Through a post on Medium Kevin Systrom had his say, stating that he still wanted to continue experimenting and seize the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the Artifact team, currently made up of only eight people, will split and take different paths.
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