TikTok for news: Instagram co-founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom are launching their first public venture together since leaving then-Facebook in 2018. Their new app is called Artifact, and it’s basically TikTok for text-based news.
Why now? According to reporting by The Verge, Systrom said they didn’t want to start a new company until three things happened:
The breakthrough preceding Artifact was Google’s 2017 invention of the transformer, which helped machine learning systems improve faster.
Copypasta on China’s biggest news aggregator: The concept for Artifact is notably similar to one of TikTok’s parent company’s early apps, Toutiao. Now one of China’s most downloaded content distribution platforms, it shares Artifact’s core feature, in that it also uses AI to curate a personalized news feed based on user behavior, instead of who you follow.
Why Artifact may be a winning idea: One of the biggest limitations of networks like Twitter and Instagram are their dependence on the follow button. Go figure — machine learning is a lot better at curating relevant content from trusted sources than we are. What’s more, algorithmically-personalized content feeds may help decrease the echo chamber-effect by serving users quality content from diverse sources they might not otherwise have accessed.
Much like how TikTok’s For You Page sparks so much more joy than your average Instagram feed, Artifact may trigger similar comparisons in the minds of Twitter users who enjoy being served content personalized to suit their interests, without having to go looking for it.
Artifact is granting access to people on the waitlist “as fast as they can.”
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