Four years after quitting social media behemoth Instagram, co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have returned with a completely new app, Artifact. The app is a customised news feed that leverages artificial intelligence to solve the issue of disinformation online. In this essay, we will investigate what Artifact is, its characteristics, and what it may represent for the future of social media.
What is Artifact?
Artifact is a customised news feed app that leverages artificial intelligence to deliver consumers the latest news from a carefully chosen list of publications. The app offers users with popular articles, and as they touch on certain articles, the app’s algorithm takes note and displays similar postings in the future. The software was developed to counteract the spread of disinformation on the internet by presenting content that questions previously held opinions. Its goal is to expose viewers to other perspectives on world events and help them escape their own “filter bubbles.”
Private Beta Testing
Artifact is presently under private beta testing and can only be accessible by signing up with your phone number to be put on a waitlist. Once onboarded, users will view a centrally rated feed and have access to two additional features that are still being tested. One is a feed that shows items posted by individuals you have selected to follow, and the second is a direct-message inbox where users may debate and exchange topics privately with friends.
Competing with other social media apps
Considering how Instagram transformed the globe, it’s reasonable to assume that many are asking how great a threat Artifact will be to other social media applications like Twitter and TikTok. However, its makers appear to think the software is mainly timely in a world saturated with disinformation.
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However, Systrom sees Artifact as a reaction to the present situation of the world, where a concentration on text is important because of the prevalence of false information. While Systrom does hope that Artifact will someday become a possible competitor to Twitter for lifestyle pieces and news, he considers the app as largely timely in a world rife with disinformation. Only time will tell as the app passes through its testing phase and as we wait for its formal rollout into the public. Using AI, Artifact is a brand-new software that provides users with a customised news feed from a certain set of outlets. The software is an attempt to combat the spread of false information by encouraging users to consider alternative points of view and preventing the building of “filter bubbles.” Artifact, which is now in private beta, has the ability to disrupt the way we get our news and might one day compete with social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok.
