What AI Discover does on your TV
Netflix is bringing a new tab to smart TVs that aims to save you from endless searching. As Engadget describes it, anyone with access will see the Discover tab in the top navigation bar, with a red gem-shaped icon.
The first feature being tested is theme-based recommendations. Each theme comes with a relevant clip from a series or film. The themes reflect who you are watching with, e.g. family night, and what mood you are in, e.g. horror or light comedy. Others cover titles that won't take up your whole evening, such as the "Quick Watch" that Techgear.gr mentions. There are also themes with new or popular titles and ones based on what you have watched recently.
After making a selection, you can narrow the field with more specific themes or refresh the list of themes itself. You can add titles to your list directly from the tab. The most useful element, according to Engadget, is the ability to tell Netflix not to recommend a title to you again. Techgear.gr adds that the system learns immediately from these rejections and avoids similar choices in the future.
Netflix notes, in a statement relayed by Engadget, that AI helps create the themes and that the service will explain the results. The company describes a new layer of intelligence that responds to what members say in real time and keeps learning.
Availability: the US first, Greece later
AI Discover is launching on supported TVs in the US, for users with the app in English. According to Engadget, Netflix says it will gradually expand it to more users over the coming weeks. Techgear.gr talks of controlled tests exclusively in the US, before any global rollout.
For subscribers in Greece, Techgear.gr writes that the feature is expected to be delayed by several months. The reason it gives is that the language models must first be adapted to Greek data, so that they read local preferences correctly. Engadget gives no date for other markets.
The tab will not appear on kids' profiles, as Engadget reports, citing Variety.
Why Netflix is leaning on artificial intelligence
Engadget presents AI Discover as a testing ground for new features that may become part of Netflix's core experience. The company wants viewers to scroll less and watch more. It is not its first attempt: it has tested a shuffle play feature and, with last year's redesign, a chatbot based on OpenAI.
Techgear.gr views the move through a business lens. It places it after a difficult period with roughly a thousand layoffs and slowing growth. As it writes, better recommendations may keep subscribers away from rivals such as Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max.
