Your Netflix Home Screen Is Getting an AI Makeover

Be honest. How much time do you waste staring at the Netflix screen, searching for something to watch? Ever spend so long looking that you give up or run out of time before you push play on anything? Welcome to my life.

Netflix announced a major shakeup of its home screen today that claims to alleviate your indecision, which will start rolling out in the “coming weeks and months.”

“We’re putting all the information you need to make an informed choice about what to watch front and center,” the announcement wrote. “That way you can better focus on what makes each title relevant for you, with callouts like “Emmy Award Winner” or “#1 in TV Shows.”

How, exactly, will they do that? AI. Yes, it’s coming to Netflix, too. Don’t be too surprised.

Search and My List are tucked away on the left-hand side of the home screen, where they’ve occupied space largely hidden from view for many years. The new home screen moves these two categories—arguably the two most-clicked-on sections—to the top of the home screen, where they can be more easily accessed, a la Hulu.

“We’re also exploring ways to bring Generative AI to our members’ discovery experience, starting with a search feature on iOS that is a small opt-in beta. This will allow members to search for shows and movies using natural, conversational phrases like “I want something funny and upbeat.”

Netflix’s announcement also says the generative AI they’re incorporating will make better real-time recommendations, adding that “We’re making the recommendations on the homepage more responsive to your moods and interests in the moment.”

How they’re doing this and how they’ll be better is left to the imagination, so I suppose we’ll have to find out when it launches. Nor does Netflix say which company they’re partnering with (if any) on the generative AI side of things.

Like the Internet of Things was just a few short years ago, and blockchain after that, AI is the new buzzword of Silicon Valley, and firms are eager to wedge it into every single space in which they think it could fit. At least building AI into a streaming service makes more sense than shoving it into a refrigerator.