BuzzFeed Launches “Branch Office” at SXSW With New Apps Aimed at Tackling AI and Misinformation

At this year’s SXSW, a quiet but important announcement came from BuzzFeed: a new experimental tech lab called Branch Office.

While many tech companies are racing to flood the internet with AI-generated content, BuzzFeed is taking a different approach. Their new division is focused on building digital spaces that prioritize human creativity, shared experiences, and community interaction instead of endless algorithm-driven feeds.

The initiative was introduced by BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, who believes the internet is entering a new phase. For years, social platforms disrupted how content was distributed across the web. Now, artificial intelligence is changing something even bigger: how content is created in the first place.

And that shift has created a new problem; one many internet users are already feeling.

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The Internet Is Drowning in Content

From AI-written articles to auto-generated social posts, the volume of content online is exploding. But more content does not always mean better information.

When algorithms are optimized purely for engagement, they can amplify misinformation, recycled ideas, and what many critics call “AI slop.”

Branch Office is BuzzFeed’s response to that reality.

Instead of building tools that simply produce more content, the lab is focused on creating interactive digital experiences that bring people together.

The First Two Apps Launching Now

Two early Branch Office projects were revealed at SXSW and are beginning to roll out this year.

One is Conjure, an app that sends users daily prompts encouraging them to capture moments from the real world through photos. The goal is simple: shift attention away from passive scrolling and toward shared creativity and everyday storytelling.

The second project is BF Island, a private social space designed around small communities and group chats rather than public algorithm-driven feeds. Think of it as a digital hangout where inside jokes, shared interests, and real connections matter more than going viral.

Both tools reflect a growing belief in tech circles that smaller communities may be the future of social media.

Why Quiz Party Matters

Another example of where this could go is BuzzFeed’s upcoming Quiz Party concept.

BuzzFeed built its early digital empire on personality quizzes that millions of people shared with friends. But instead of taking quizzes alone, the new idea allows users to take them together in real time.

Friends can join the same quiz, answer questions simultaneously, and react to each other's results live. The experience becomes less about the quiz itself and more about the conversation, laughter, and connection it sparks.

In other words, the content becomes the starting point... not the destination.

Can Humans Still Win Against the AI Machine?

For many people, the rise of artificial intelligence has created anxiety about what’s real, what’s fake, and what can still be trusted online.

But Branch Office points to an important truth: technology can generate content, but it cannot manufacture culture.

Algorithms can write headlines and produce images. They can mimic voices and replicate trends. But what they cannot replicate is the taste, perspective, humor, and lived experience of real communities.

That’s where platforms like Women for the Culture matter.

Human voices, cultural insight, and authentic storytelling remain the most powerful filters against misinformation and digital noise.

In a world where machines can generate endless content, the real value of media may shift toward something much older and far more powerful: community.

And if BuzzFeed’s Branch Office experiment succeeds, the future of the internet might look less like an algorithmic feed... and more like a digital gathering place.