Artifact, a personalized news app, is ready for a public release, after being unveiled last month through a closed test.
This app was developed by the co-founders of Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and uses artificial intelligence to aggregate news from major media outlets.
The News Experience Delivered by Artifact
Unlike how it worked in previous days, where access to Artifact required registering on a waiting list and providing a mobile phone number, the app currently requires no registration after download, but instead requires the user to select ten areas of interest ranging from household products to American politics and men’s style. In addition, active subscriptions can be linked to the account, to prioritize the news for which you pay. The app’s artificial intelligence engine learns a user’s reading habits as they dive into the news, making the feed better every time it’s read.
Despite its well-treated minimalist design, there is one aspect that some users might not like completely: the articles do not open within the application, but rather redirect to an Internet browser window within the application, which is then Load the article from the original website. This implies the possibility of running into paywalls often, since there is no option to hide media that you are not subscribed to.
Artifact has a “Headlines” section, where it offers a selection of articles organized by topic. Also, the profile tab has a new feature that shows reading history after reading 10 articles.
In addition, Artifact has other recently introduced features. It is possible to mark an article with a thumbs down to see less similar content. You can also synchronize your mobile phone contacts with the application, which allows you to find out what articles are popular with that group.
With AI there is always suspicion regarding the handling that can be given to the information consumption profile that the app can build based on the habits of each user. However, to prevent attention from being biasedly focused on one topic or another, Artifact has the option of contrasting sources in its “Headlines” section to avoid bias.
Artifact, which currently only works in English, is currently available for any user on iOS or Android.
