Thank you Lauren Forristal for writing up this new enhancement from Netflix. Generative AI is becoming the massive disruptor to improving search capabilities not just in ecommerce but in media and any other digital forum.

Netflix has finally delivered the goods! They’re rolling out a cool new search feature that uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT to help you find shows in a more fun, chatty way. You can toss in your faves with laid-back phrases like “I want something funny and upbeat” or get all specific with requests like “I want something scary, but not too terrifying, and maybe a tad funny, but not like rolling on the floor funny.” This fresh feature is making its debut, but only if you’re bold enough to jump into the beta experience. It feels like we’re moving toward a more human-centered tech vibe, which has been the trend for the past few years. Plus, other streaming services are jumping on the generative AI bandwagon too. For example, Amazon has an AI voice search on Fire TVs that can handle open-ended questions about shows and movies.

Check this out: Tubi rolled out this cool ChatGPT-powered search tool that answers questions about content and suggested movies based on what you specifically asked for. Unfortunately, they axed it later, probably because not many people were using it. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Netflix’s new feature runs into the same issues. Netflix has always pushed features to improve their user interface and are suggesting using generative AI to update title cards in the languages their subscribers prefer.

Generative AI-powered Search is here and now it’s a matter of results. The verdict is not yet out. Do we like it and will learn we can’t live without it or will this fade due to lack of support and cost pressure?