Instagram Creators Launch ‘Artifact’ News App; Here’s How It Works

Instagram's co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have teamed up again to launch a new social app. The new app is called Artifact and is described as a personalized news reader which uses machine learning to curate the feed. It also includes social media elements, allowing you to share and discuss news items with friends.

Artifact to Offer AI-Curated News Feed

The concept of Artifact sounds familiar, with some calling it a TikTok for text. It also appears quite similar to the now-defunct Google Reader, which served a personalized news feed, although users had to add the RSS feeds themselves. Artifact, on the other hand, uses artificial intelligence to personalize news feeds.

The Artifact app offers a feed of news stories from a list of mainstream publications as well as niche blogs. You can select articles you find interesting, and the app will show you similar stories in the future. This sounds like how TikTok tweaks its "For You" page based on the content you consume.

Currently, Artifact is in the private beta phase. If you're interested in trying it out, you can join the waitlist. Initially, beta users will only be able to view the main ranked feed. Artifact states that it is testing a direct messaging option. The app is available for Android as well as iOS.

Artifact: The Origin Story

Instagram founders Systrom and Krieger began exploring the concept of Artifact a couple of years ago. Although at first, Systrom was skeptical about the performance of machine-learning systems, his experience at Instagram helped change his views. "Throughout the years, what I saw was that every time we use machine learning to improve the consumer experience, things got really good really quickly," he told The Verge.

Systrom added that Artifact is serious about its commitment to providing readers with high-quality news. He stated that the app will only include publishers who stick to editorial standards of quality and remove posts that "promote falsehoods".