Inside BuzzFeed's Secret Lab: Three Apps, a New Company, and a Bet on the Future of the Internet

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 13, 2026--

BuzzFeed, Inc. (Nasdaq: BZFD) today unveiled Branch Office, a new spinoff company that has been secretly developing a slate of apps designed to reinvent how people connect on the internet. The first two are launching now. More are coming this year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260313571948/en/

Branch Office operates independently, with its own founders, its own mandate, and a product philosophy built for a world where AI has blurred the lines between software and content. BuzzFeed saw a gap no one else was filling, and built a dedicated company, quietly, to move fast enough to actually fill it.

"We're accelerating into an era of infinite fake news, slop, personalization bubbles, and cuts at the organizations that actually care about content," said Jonah Peretti. "We need a solution. Branch Office is that solution."

IN THE LAB
BuzzFeed has been running AI experiments for years – a game where you raised a nepo baby, a chatbot that lets you attempt to talk a Karen down in a Starbucks line. Through hundreds of projects the team learned what AI could do when it wasn’t trying to replicate existing models of static content production, but building totally new experiences that would not have been possible before the advent of GenAI.

While most social media companies are using AI to keep people isolated in their own algorithmic feeds, BuzzFeed’s projects were built on the premise that creativity and engagement can bring people closer together, help them connect with their friends.

THE PHILOSOPHY: NINTENDO, NOT BIG TECH
Led by founder Bill Shouldis, Branch Office operates with a clear vision: treat software as a creative medium. Build fast. Iterate constantly. Let real communities, real culture, and genuine taste shape what gets made.

The guiding philosophy comes from an unlikely place: Nintendo. The gaming giant's principle of "lateral thinking with withered technology," taking maximum creativity out of what already exists, is Branch Office's north star. We don’t need to build our own foundational models or compete with Big Tech. We just ask one question: what's already here, and how do we make it genuinely fun?

When Branch Office looked at the market, they saw two camps: companies building AI to replace humans, and companies building AI to simulate them. Branch Office is doing neither.

"Most companies are using AI to replace human creativity," said Bill Shouldis, Founder, Branch Office. "We're leveraging it to connect people."

THE APPS

1. CONJURE — COMING SOON (iOS APP STORE, US & JAPAN)
Every day, Conjure sends you a summons: a subject to go photograph. You submit your photo as an offering. Something on the other end accepts it. Or it doesn't. No explanation. The lore builds over time, and entirely unlike anything else in the App Store – a daily ritual designed to pull people out of their feeds and into the world.

As Shouldis said on stage, "It solves the eternal problem for people who wanted BeReal to be in the X-Files universe."

2. BF ISLAND — IN PRIVATE BETA NOW (iOS APP STORE, US)
Your group chat has its own language, the callbacks, the bits, the references that only land with the seven people in the thread. BF Island lets you visualize all of it, drop in a photo, riff on it, spin it into something that makes your friends lose it. No algorithm. No followers. Just your people.

3. QUIZ PARTY — COMING SOON
A social quiz app. You find a quiz, you take it, you get your result, and then you share it with your friends. Everyone in the ‘quiz party’ sees each other's results and you roast each other in the chat. People have been doing this with BuzzFeed quizzes for years – screenshotting, texting, posting – but now we're building that behavior directly into the product, so it's easier, it's tighter, and it brings more people in.

THE BET AGAINST THE ALGORITHM
"The Internet disrupted distribution. Now AI is disrupting production," said Peretti. "When you don't have a vision for the content, you get a feed of slop. The value has moved – it's about community, culture, and taste. That's what Big Tech can't automate. Software is the new content."

Branch Office: branchoffice.studio/email
Conjure: whatwillyouconjure.com
BF Island: bfisland.com

About BuzzFeed, Inc.
BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across pop culture, entertainment, shopping, food and news, our brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, and buy now – and into the future. Born on the Internet in 2006, BuzzFeed is committed to making it better: providing trusted, quality, brand-safe news and entertainment to hundreds of millions of people; making content on the Internet more inclusive, empathetic, and creative; and inspiring our audience to live better lives.

QUIZ PARTY: A NEW SOCIAL QUIZ APP COMING SOON

BF ISLAND: A PLACE FOR THE LATEST TRENDS

CONJURE: COMING SOON (iOS APP STORE, US & JAPAN)

BRANCH OFFICE

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Luka Doncic is in his ninth NBA season as one of the sport's most dynamic scorers, he has rarely been better than this.

Two weeks into the Los Angeles Lakers' first season following LeBron James' departure, Doncic is scorching opponents with one brilliant offensive performance after another.

Doncic even did it back-to-back over the past two days, putting up 45 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Toronto on Sunday night before dropping 42 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds in another comfortable victory over Miami on Monday night.

“It feels good, but when we win, it feels way better,” Doncic said. “That’s the only important stuff. Obviously, it feels good (to score), but when you win by 20 against a team like Miami, it’s really awesome, especially on a back-to-back.”

Doncic has scored at least 37 points in five consecutive games, topping 40 in four of those outings. He has made 34 3-pointers in that stretch while hitting 53.1% of his shots overall.

And fittingly for a season that began with a dramatic half-court bucket over a trash-talking opponent, Doncic is lighting up the scoreboard with style and flair to spare.

He's hitting tough shots from all over the court, throwing creative passes and rebounding with relish. As his teammates have repeatedly pointed out, Doncic is even giving a serious defensive effort that hasn't always been part of his game, culminating in five steals against the Raptors.

“It's crazy,” Lakers guard Quentin Grimes said. “It just feels like almost anything he shoots — whether it's a circus shot, or whether it's a regular step-back 3, or it's a tough look — it seems like everything he shoots is going to go in. It's kind of surreal. I don't think I've ever been on the court when everything somebody shoots, you think it's going in. It's kind of crazy the heater he's on, for sure.”

Doncic has won two of the past three NBA scoring titles, and he’s the early leader again by a wide margin after this prolific surge that began with a 52-point performance at Utah. He had 41 and 37 in his next two games — both losses — before his back-to-back spree at the Lakers’ downtown arena.

The Lakers are off to a 6-2 start despite having nine new players on their roster after another summer of turnover, but they’re already coming together behind their Slovenian superstar.

“It feels like a supernova, but it also feels normal,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "We live on a spaceship, and we’re going at the speed of light at all times when he’s on the court. When he has it going, it’s pick your poison, because he can just make any shot. And then you start putting two on the ball, and everybody else is the beneficiary of that. He’s a terrific offensive engine.”

Indeed, opponents have reacted to Doncic’s roll by blitzing him with two or three defenders well outside the 3-point arc. The Lakers are already making the obvious adjustments to that strategy: Doncic repeatedly passed out of trouble and found his teammates in better positions over the last two games, and those teammates relished their open 3-pointers.

Los Angeles went 37 for 80 beyond the arc in the past two games while scoring 269 total points.

“It’s not just me, it’s everybody,” Doncic said. “Everybody is in the right spots and shooting with confidence.”

Indeed, the Lakers racked up 39 assists against the Heat, the most they've had in a game since Redick took over in 2024. The Lakers also lead the league in team field goal percentage, and new center Walker Kessler is the NBA's most accurate individual shooter thanks to the dozens of lobs already thrown to him by Doncic and their teammates.

While James' playmaking and leadership could be missed later in the year, this Lakers roster built around Doncic is getting an early taste of just how good it can be.

“It's fun,” said Austin Reaves, who had 27 points against Miami. "Luka is doing incredible things, and when he’s doing that, it just opens up the floor for everybody else to play free and confident, and I feel like that’s what we did tonight.”

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left, and Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo battle for the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, right, is defended by Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins during the second half of NBA basketball game Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) is defended by Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson, left, and Miami Heat guard Ryan Conwell during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic reacts after scoring a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic passes the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)