At the recent SXSW conference, the former digital media giant BuzzFeed showcased two AI-native applications developed by its new subsidiary Branch Office, but the reception at the demo was extremely lackluster. This not only left the audience confused, but also cast a heavy doubt on its aggressive "AI-first" strategy.

According to on-site reports, both products unveiled by BuzzFeed failed to address user pain points:

Conjure: An app reportedly imitating BeReal. It sends users "sacrifice calls" every day, asking them to take photos of specific everyday items (such as the sky), and the system does not provide any explanation after accepting the photos. After the demo, the audience fell into long silence, followed by an awkward laugh.

BF Island: A group chat app based on an AI image editor. Its core feature is using AI to generate memes and fragmented content in real time, attempting to attract young people with its "cyber garbage generator" attribute, but its product logic was criticized for lacking originality.

The release came under very severe circumstances. Just last week, BuzzFeed admitted in its financial report that there were significant doubts about its ability to continue operating. Although CEO Jonah Peretti announced three years ago that he would double down on AI, the reality data has been harsh:

The company remains mired in debt, and it is expected to incur a net loss of $57.3 million in 2025. In order to fully transition to AI, the company previously cut its Pulitzer Prize-winning news department, and instead produced a large amount of AI-generated content that readers criticized as "low-quality garbage".

Facing criticism, Peretti gave a cryptic defense. He believed that in the context of AI disrupting production, content itself was no longer the core, and value had shifted to communities, culture, and taste. However, the cold reaction from the audience to these two apps seems to prove that piling up AI without a core vision cannot win user loyalty.