New AI-Powered News App from Instagram Founders Could be the Next Big Thing

The current AI craze is dominated by chatbots, but artificial intelligence can do so much more than summarize the internet. We might be able to consume media better with the help of AI, according to a new app from Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

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In today's media landscape, it can be difficult to find high-quality content. Our information is flung at us like a fire hose, so we have to sift through it all. To keep up with the news of the day, I scroll through social media feeds and manually visit a variety of websites.

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As a result, Systrom and Krieger are now building a new app to resolve this issue after selling their photo-sharing app to Meta Platform's (ticker: META) Facebook META -2.26% for $1 billion in 2012. There's a chance it could work.

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Artifact is the name of the app. A private beta release for iOS and Android of the artificial intelligence-driven news product was launched last week by the two founders. The startup's website offers a waiting list sign-up.

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Systrom explained that the app's name combines facts, articles, and artificial intelligence in an interview with the Platformer. A robust recommendation engine for news has now become possible thanks to AI technology, he told the outlet.

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It has been a week since I started using Artifact. To be honest, I wasn't overly impressed at first. There was a home feed showing articles selected from a curated list of news publishers and independent blogs, like Apple News (AAPL ) or Google News (AAPL ).

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Over time, however, I became more and more impressed with the software. Despite its simplicity, the app has an excellent design. The app's creators have expertise in building Instagram, which is clear from their background. Interfaces are intuitive and clean. There are attractive easy-to-read functional icons like "hide publisher" when you press hard on a headline. The tabs also contain a greater amount of information than its major competitors, saving time without increasing scrolling.

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AI is effective at personalizing content. Among the best descriptions I've heard of the app is "TikTok for text." I agree with this description. TikTok, for example, tracks which video its users like or spend more time watching so that it can fine-tune its service accordingly. A similar measurement is done by Artifact, which measures how often users click on specific sources and topics, but more importantly, how long they read the articles. Similar pieces are then surfaced in the future by the algorithm.

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Artifact's home feed has been a great source of good articles I haven't seen anywhere else. An overview of the day's major trending stories can be found in Artifact's "Headlines" tab.

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The creators of an artifact have societal goals that extend beyond their personal interests. He was working on a new system for discovering content using artificial intelligence a couple of years ago. He lamented how advertising-based internet engagement incentives bad-faith actors to spread misinformation. There will be less manipulation of distribution of social networks in the future, and more focus on whether the content is good, ” Systrom said previously.

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There is a net result that is referred to as an artifact. He has stated that in order to establish editorial standards for accuracy, he intends to only onboard publishers who adhere to these standards. In addition to the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, and Scientific American, I was also able to spot dozens of mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, and Scientific American, along with a few high-quality specialized tech blogs like Daring Fireball and Stratechery. There seems to be a good fit between the general filter for quality and the actual filter.

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Systrom told the Platformer he is looking forward to adding additional features that would enhance the social networking aspect of the product, including the ability to follow other users to find out what articles they are reading, the ability to leave comments on articles, as well as direct messaging. There was no response from Artifact to a request for comments about the additional features that will be available in the future.

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Whether Artifact will become as popular as TikTok is unlikely in the near future. However, it could be a welcome change for those who want to improve the quality of online discourse and find the best content. So far, the app has worked well, and I'm hopeful it will continue to succeed.