• by Ray Schultz , January 29, 2023

BuzzFeed has set out an ambitious digital agenda for itself,  one that will leverage artificial intelligence and other technologies.  

The company believes that “the future of digital media will be set by two major trends: creators and AI” over the next three years, BuzzFeed CEO and founder Jonah Peretti wrote in a post.  

“If the past 15 years of the internet have been defined by algorithmic feeds that curate and recommend content, the next 15 years will be defined by AI and data helping create, personalize, and animate the content itself,” Peretti noted.  

He added, “Our industry will expand beyond AI-powered curation (feeds), to AI-powered creation (content). AI opens up a new era of creativity, where creative humans like us play a key role providing the ideas, cultural currency, inspired prompts, IP, and formats that come to life using the newest technologies.”

Peretti conceded that “working hard for our partners and operating cost efficiently, while essential, will only get us so far. To fulfill the promise of our mission, we need to build a stronger business foundation by executing a forward-looking strategy.”

That includes the following:

1. Build the premier platform for creative people to do their most inspired work, reach the most people, and live their best lives. 
2. Lead the future of AI-powered content and maximize the creativity of our writers, producers, and creators and our business.  

The braintrust will be made up of teams at BuzzFeed, Complex Networks, Tasty, HuffPost and BuzzFeed News.

On the one side, BuzzFeed’s business team will serve as “the monetization experts, helping creators make the most money from their work, bringing new tech-powered products to market, and tapping into studio, commerce, and advertising opportunities," Peretti stated.  

In addition, “our tech, product, and select content teams will become the experts on the latest technologies, the best AI-models, and the most interactive formats in order to build industry-leading tools and bring creator ideas to life,” he continued. 

CNET Money has drawn much attention for using AI to create short finance stories. And other publishers are exploring the capability.