BuzzFeed Unveils Branch Office at SXSW, AI at the Center of the Debate

BuzzFeed, the American media company renowned for its viral quizzes and lists, is seeking to reinvent itself in the age of artificial intelligence. At the SXSW conference in Austin, Jonah Peretti, co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, unveiled an ambitious new initiative: Branch Office. This subsidiary is dedicated to exploring AI through consumer-facing applications, emphasizing creativity and connection.

Peretti's presentation began hesitantly, with slideshow issues disrupting the start of his talk. Despite this, he emphasized that BuzzFeed had been secretly working on Branch Office for over a year. The goal is to leverage BuzzFeed's past experiences with AI to connect people and build a community around culture, taste, and community.

Bill Shouldis, product director at BuzzFeed and founder of Branch Office, revealed two of the new applications: BF Island and Conjure. BF Island is a group chat platform that offers photo editing and enhancement features powered by AI. What sets this application apart is its integrated library of online trends and memes, created by an editorial team. This library aims to inspire users to create AI-generated photos referencing fleeting trends, such as the taste test of a burger by the CEO of McDonald's or the "frame-mogging" drama. If these terms escape you, it's likely you are not part of the "very online" audience being targeted.

Conjure, on the other hand, draws inspiration from BeReal, the temporary photo app. However, Conjure encourages users to take daily photos of things other than themselves, with creative prompts like “What hides between the trees and the moon?”. The app also includes an "AI spirit for CEOs," although this feature left the audience puzzled. During the demonstration, eerie images flashed on the screen, followed by a whisper: “What will you conjure?”. This demonstration was met with awkward silence and polite laughter.

Peretti also introduced Quiz Party, a social app that allows users to take BuzzFeed quizzes with friends and share results. Despite these innovations, the presentation was met with skepticism from the SXSW audience, known for its interest in technology.

BuzzFeed is facing significant financial challenges, having recorded a net loss of $57.3 million last year. The company has expressed doubts about its ability to continue as a business, focusing on its IP Studio and new AI applications to overcome its liquidity struggles.

During the Q&A session, one person pointed out that BeReal has struggled to retain users after the novelty wore off. Shouldis responded that Conjure would evolve to include different types of content, such as video and audio, and mentioned the possibility of prototyping with Claude Code to build a community.

The underlying principle of these new applications is that AI can lead to faster software development, allowing companies to iterate more quickly and maintain user engagement. "In a way, software is the new content," noted Peretti. However, to succeed, BuzzFeed will need to attract users by thinking not only about what AI can do but also about what people want to do with AI. Before they can iterate, it is crucial to attract users, a challenge that BuzzFeed seems to have underestimated by focusing more on AI capabilities than on user desires.