Artifact, the news application developed by Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is set to close just a year after its much-anticipated launch. Despite its pioneering use of AI to curate news articles based on individual user preferences, the app struggled to attract a sufficiently large user base. This challenge ultimately led the team to the decision that sustaining Artifact was no longer feasible.

CEO Kevin Systrom conveyed this development in a blog post, stating:

“We have built something that a core group of users love, but we have concluded that the market opportunity isn’t big enough to warrant continued investment in this way.”

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The shutdown process has commenced, preventing users from commenting or sharing new posts. However, news content will remain accessible until the end of February.

Since its introduction in late January 2023, Artifact has continually introduced a range of innovative features. These include AI-generated article summaries, the ability to engage in discussions directly within the app, and the option to label articles as clickbait, triggering automatic reworking by AI.

In the wake of the closure, the team of eight individuals dedicated to Artifact will disband to pursue individual paths. Systrom expressed optimism about venturing into new projects and highlighted the seemingly limitless possibilities for groundbreaking AI-driven ideas.