Even Netflix Is Turning to AI to Help Audiences Figure Out What to Watch

You too, Netflix? Netflix’s whole thing has been that its algorithm was designed in such a way that it knows what you’ll want to watch, that even small shows with no hype or stars like “Baby Reindeer,” “Adolescence,” “Squid Game,” “Ginny and Georgia,” or even “Stranger Things” once upon a time can turn into massive, organic hits. They call it the “Netflix Effect” for a reason. But even Netflix has had trouble keeping people consistently engaged and in getting them to find that next show or film. Last month it overhauled its creative leads to meet that challenge, so it is turning to where so many other companies have turned to shake things up: AI. Netflix today launched AI Discover, which is a new tab on the streamer’s TV app where you can ask an AI assistant to help you narrow down a selection based on what you say you’re in the mood to watch. Fortunately Netflix didn’t do the Meta thing and come up with some cuddly meeple to be your virtual assistant. The tool is built around themes, in which you select from a range of themes, each of which is previewed via a clip from a show or movie. You can say I want to watch “Something Light” or “Scare Me” or ask for something for families, something that’s popular, or something quick, to name a few options. The AI will give you recommendations, it will allow you to refine your selections further and you can continue doom scrolling, and you can finally “Tune Your Recommendations” to either keep a recommendation or tell the AI to not recommend it again. What this is not is an AI chat bot. You don’t even type anything into it (TV remotes are sometimes hard for that), just pick from some pre-selected options until you get what you want. The AI also though won’t be available on kids profiles, for now it’s not available on mobile, just TVs, and the data collected won’t be used to inform future content decisions for what Netflix produces. While this could be seen as just a fancy new search function with an AI label, Netflix clarifies that this is new tech they’ve been building with a predictive intelligence model that responds in real time and continues learning based on your preferences. It’s a function on top of the existing search that’s a bit more refined. For now, AI Discover is only available for a handful of U.S. members who are using it in English and on supported TVs, but it’ll open wider in the coming weeks. The AI Discover function is indicated with a red gem icon and a “New” label on the top of your screen.