News app turned X competitor Artifact now lets users generate AI images for their posts

Artifact, the news aggregator recently turned X competitor, is adding a new generative AI feature. The app, built by Instagram’s co-founders, announced last week it would allow users to post their own updates, which didn’t have to include a link. Today, it’s expanding on that addition with the ability for users to create their own images to accompany their posts using generative AI.

The company believes the feature could help users make their posts more compelling as an eye-catching image can help tell their story. For example, it suggests users could create a landscape scene when posting about climate, or generate a concept car if talking about the future of EVs, among other things.

The feature, which has been in development over the past few months can be accessed by tapping on the plus “+” icon in the photo frame when creating a new w post on Artifact then choosing the option “create with AI.” Users can then enter in their prompt to see the generated image appear. The prompt can include a subject, a medium (like illustration or 3D image), and a style (like pop art or photo realistic, e.g.)

The company tells us it’s using a fine-tuned Stable Diffusion model for the image generation process.

Artifact says the whole process should take only a few seconds. However, if users aren’t satisfied with the results, they can re-use the same prompt to generate another image or revise the prompt to try again.

The addition is one of many AI technologies the app uses to help personalize its content to the end user. Originally, Artifact began as a newsreader of sorts, allowing AI to prioritize and surface the best content. The app also introduced AI technology to rewrite clickbait headlines and summarize stories so readers could get an overview of an article before diving in.

However, in more recent days, the app has been shifting away from being just a place to catch up on news to more of an X or Threads rival of sorts, as it added social features like commenting, user profiles, and the ability to post their own links and text-based posts. This broadens the content available through Artifact and makes the product more social, where curators of content can develop a following — not all that dissimilar from X (formerly Twitter).

With generative AI imagery, creators have another tool to attract users to their content and build their audience.