In a quiet Austin conference hall, BuzzFeed’s attempt at a second act began with a glitching slideshow. The company, which recently expressed "substantial doubt" about its future, unveiled a new venture called Branch Office. Its mission: to build consumer apps powered by artificial intelligence.

CEO Jonah Peretti described the spin-off as a year-long secret project, an evolution of the media company's earlier AI experiments. "Using AI is the way of connecting people, building community around these pillars of culture, and taste," Peretti told the SXSW audience. The presentation, however, was met with palpable skepticism.

Product director Bill Shouldis demoed two apps. The first, BF Island, is a group chat platform with AI photo editing. Its unique selling point is an in-house library of memes and trends—like a recent McDonald's CEO taste test—meant to fuel creation for a deeply online crowd. The second, Conjure, prompts users to take a daily photo of something other than themselves, guided by ethereal questions like "What lies between the trees and the moon?"

Shouldis noted Conjure even features an "AI spirit for a CEO." The demos concluded not with applause, but with a cough and uneasy laughter.

The launch follows a brutal year for BuzzFeed, which reported a $57.3 million net loss. Peretti argued that "software is the new content," and that AI allows for rapid iteration to maintain user interest. When an audience member pointed out that similar apps, like the now-struggling BeReal, failed to retain users, Shouldis suggested Conjure would evolve, possibly integrating video or coding features.

The underlying idea—that AI speeds development—is sound. But the reaction in the room suggested BuzzFeed may have focused more on what AI can technically achieve than on what an audience genuinely desires.

Source: TechCrunch