BuzzFeed, the American media firm famous for its quizzes, listicles, and a former Pulitzer Prize-winning news division, is now attempting to transform itself for the age of artificial intelligence. That is the core proposition being presented. During the SXSW conference in Austin, BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti unveiled the company's latest media venture: a spin-off named Branch Office, which will focus on exploring AI through consumer apps built for creativity and social connection. Peretti described the new company as an evolution of the AI experiments BuzzFeed has conducted over several years. His presentation started awkwardly, with technical issues during the slideshow, and proceeded to app demonstrations that were met mostly with quiet or polite, subdued laughter. "We’ve been working on this secretly for over a year, and we’ve learned a lot from the BuzzFeed platform about what is coming with new kinds of AI formats," Peretti stated. "Using AI is the way of connecting people, building community around these pillars of culture, and taste, and community."

Bill Shouldis, a BuzzFeed product director and the founder of Branch Office, showcased two of the new apps: BF Island and Conjure. The first, BF Island, is a group chat platform that includes tools for altering and editing photos using AI. While the AI editing capabilities themselves are not particularly innovative, that is not the primary focus.

The standout aspect is not the AI toolset but rather the in-app library of online trends and memes, curated by an editorial team. This library is designed to inspire users to create AI photos that reference fleeting internet moments, such as the McDonald’s CEO taste-testing a burger or the "frame-mogging" drama. If these references are unfamiliar, you likely aren't part of the highly online audience the app is targeting.

The second app, Conjure, resembles BeReal—the once-daily ephemeral photo app—but instead guides users to take daily photos of subjects other than themselves. For context, BeReal itself ultimately failed to sustain momentum and was sold to Voodoo. In the demonstration, a prompt asked, “What lies between the trees and the moon,” leading users to photograph the night sky. A sequence of eerie images then appeared on screen, accompanied by a whispered voiceover: “What will you conjure.”

The concept was confusing, and the audience reaction made it clear they didn’t understand it either. After the demo, a single cough broke the silence, followed by uneasy laughter. Shouldis added that AI is also part of Conjure, mentioning the app features an “AI spirit for a CEO”—a statement that only deepened the confusion.

Peretti also introduced Quiz Party, a social app that allows friends to take BuzzFeed quizzes together and share their results. This underwhelming presentation comes just days after BuzzFeed disclosed it has “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operating and is pursuing strategic talks to address liquidity issues. The company, which reported a net loss of $57.3 million last year, said it plans to focus this year on its Studio IP and new AI apps like these. However, even the tech-savvy SXSW audience appeared skeptical. During the Q&A, one attendee noted that BeReal struggled to retain users after the initial novelty faded, asking how an app like Conjure would tackle similar retention challenges. Shouldis responded that the app would evolve, “and have different types of things happening and not just be exactly what it is today.” He pointed to potential integrations like video, audio, and prototyping with Claude Code to foster community.

The underlying idea for these new apps isn't without merit: AI can accelerate software development, allowing companies to iterate faster and maintain user engagement. “In a way, software is the new content,” Peretti observed. Yet, before iteration can begin, you first need to attract users. With its new apps, BuzzFeed appears to have focused more on what AI can technically achieve than on what people actually want to do with it—an approach that is rarely a formula for success.