Netflix, which has seen viewer engagement decline in recent quarters, is turning to AI for a new feature aimed at nudging users to find something new to watch.
The company is launching AI Discover on Tuesday, November 3, a new feature in the Netflix TV application, initially intended for a limited number of subscribers in the United States. In the first iteration of the new AI-powered tool, you’re invited to explore content based on predefined themes (such as “Something Light”, “Scare Me”, “Workplace Comedy Favorites”, “Family Movie Night”, “Quick Watches”, “Family Scandal Sagas” or “Royal Court Intrigue”). Recommended titles are produced in real time, according to Netflix, based on the user’s viewing history and preferences as well as trends on the platform.
The streamer will begin rolling out AI Discover in the US to customers who use Netflix in English on supported smart TVs. If you have access, you’ll see a “Discover” tab with a red gem icon and a “New” label in the top navigation bar of your TV. The company plans to expand this feature to more regions and customers in the coming weeks.
Netflix has long used machine learning and AI technologies to personalize content recommendations, but AI Discover is the first user-facing app that the company touts as being powered by artificial intelligence. The hope is that AI-recommended titles will be another tool to increase Netflix’s total watch time among viewers, particularly in the United States. Amid a recent decline in viewership per subscriber, Netflix has reshuffled its content leadership team, including replacing content chief Bela Bajaria with industry veteran Peter Rice in an effort to produce more hits.
The AI content recommendation feature is interactive, but it is not a chatbot-like experience. AI Discover will not be available on children’s profiles.
When you click the Discover button on the Netflix interface, a message appears saying: “Give me a moment while I find your next obsession.” Here’s how the theme-based AI Discover experience works, according to Netflix:
- Choose from a range of themes, each previewed with a clip from a show or movie. Some correspond to an atmosphere (“Something Light”, “Scare Me”), to a target audience (“Family Movie Night”) or to the time you have (“Quick Watches”). Others may reflect what’s new or popular, or what you’ve watched recently.
- The app displays an array of matching movie or TV show recommendations.
- You can then choose from more specific themes to continue searching; or you can select “Something different” for a new set.
- Each title has a “Set Your Recommendations” button, right next to “Playing” and “My List.” Use it to keep a recommendation or to ask Netflix to no longer recommend something.
Netflix is positioning the AI-based recommendation feature as a work in progress – and wants customers to provide feedback on its usefulness. “Think of AI Discover as our test kitchen: We try new discovery recipes, and your use and feedback help us decide which ones to keep, improve, or serve next,” Netflix says in a blog post about the new feature. “Some might even access the core Netflix experience.”
AI Discover is powered by “a new intelligence layer we’ve built that responds to what members tell us in real time and continues to learn,” according to Netflix.
“What excites us most is the feeling of use,” the company says. “Tell us what you’re looking for and the experience adjusts. Tell us a recommendation isn’t for you, and we’ll remember it in AI Discover, so it doesn’t keep showing up.”
Netflix has also adopted AI in other areas of its business. Around 300 titles in the streamer’s library used generative AI throughout their production process, the company announced in July. This spring, Netflix paid $587 million to buy Ben Affleck-founded InterPositive, which it says provides filmmakers with AI tools to use in their film and TV productions.
— Corbin Bolies contributed to this article
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