- Prime Video and Netflix plan new AI-generated homepages
- Netflix revealed its ‘GenPage’ tests ahead of new Prime Video report
- Viewers are not convinced that homepages are moving in the right direction
You’re about to see a lot more generative AI in your streaming apps: Netflix has published details of the tests it’s doing with generative AI on its homepage, while PK Press Club reports that Amazon Prime Video is also ready for an AI-driven overhaul.
Starting with Netflix, the company revealed that it was working on a way to use generative AI to do the heavy lifting on the app’s home page. This involves determining which recommendations each user should see, adapting to user feedback and behavior over time, and best combining movies, shows, games, podcasts, and live events.
It starts with a prompt: “Given everything we know about this user and this request, what landing page should we generate to maximize user satisfaction?” » – and Netflix seems happy with the results. There are still a few issues to work on, however, like the AI model not knowing much about a movie or show that has just launched.
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User engagement increased during Netflix’s internal testing, with the application of the new ‘GenPage’ AI model, and recommendations became more relevant faster. Additionally, the time taken to render the homepage has decreased. This is still in its early stages, and Netflix hasn’t said when it will come to users or in what form, but it’s now in the works.
AI at the forefront on Prime Video
On Amazon’s side, a new report from PK Press Club indicates that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has personally decided that Prime Video will serve as a showcase for AI in the near future and that an upcoming homepage redesign will put AI “front and center.”
This is according to people “with direct knowledge of the matter”, so don’t consider this confirmed just yet. The homepage redesign project is apparently known as “Lighthouse” and is reportedly envisioned as a way to claim some of AI’s attention in the face of competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
We don’t have many details on what that will look like, but film and TV recommendations will incorporate more AI, PK Press Club says. AI will also be better able to learn viewers’ personal preferences over time and respond to voice commands.
You might see thumbnails on the home page like “1980s action movies,” for example. The report gives no indication of when this redesign might begin rolling out, but it is apparently already being tested with a select number of users in various forms.
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With two of the big streaming giants now appearing to have committed to AI-controlled homepages, the next question is what users might think about it. There are so many things to monitor on each platform that some sort of filter or algorithm is necessary, but is this AI-driven approach the right way to go?
Past homepage redesigns perhaps give us some clues: A major Netflix redesign rolled out last year sparked many complaints online, but the company’s internal data showed it worked, so it stayed in place. At the time, there was speculation that more AI was coming, and it seems that is now the case.
“I don’t know if I’m alone,” writes one Reddit user, “but I hate the concept of ‘personalizing’ my content. No offense, but so far AI has failed to predict anything about me… Personally, I don’t want software to think for me.”
Reactions to Prime Video’s upcoming AI overhaul seem equally pessimistic. “This seems completely unnecessary,” one user comments, while several suggest the move might even be enough to prompt them to cancel their Prime Video subscription.
