AI-curated news app Artifact shuts down after one year

Artifact, an AI-curated personalized news app founded by Instagram's former founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is shutting down just one year after its launch. Systrom announced the closure on Medium, stating that while they built something a core group of users love, "the market opportunity isn’t big enough to warrant continued investment." The app originally aimed to provide a TikTok-style news feed, but expanded to include content creation, customizable profiles, and a Reddit-like voting system. Commenting and posting have been disabled, and the app will remain accessible for news browsing through the end of February. Co-founder Kevin Systrom expressed hope that technology could still find ways to "preserve, support and grow" news institutions, acknowledging the existential crises facing the news industry.