Amazon has announced its latest attempt to use generative AI: to add a Video Recaps service for previous seasons of popular shows on Prime Video.
Prime Video is Amazon’s streaming platform, and is home to hit TV series such as Fallout, Reacher, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
The tool is now in beta on select Prime original series, with catch-ups using music, dialogue, and narration to give the viewer a recap on what happened in the earlier seasons of a show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Amazon is betting AI can identify key plot points for a series to be synchronized with a voiceover narration and dialogue snippets.”
Naturally, the hope with a new feature like this is that casual viewers who may have missed large sections of a TV series can jump back in easily with an AI-generated visual recap that goes over both characters and crucial storylines missed. Prime Video is no stranger to AI, as it uses it to suggest search topics already, but this is certainly a more blatant use of the technology.
“Video Recaps marks a groundbreaking application of generative AI for streaming,” VP of technology at Prime Video, Gérard Medioni, explained in a statement. “This first-of-its-kind feature demonstrates Prime Video’s ongoing commitment to innovation and making the viewing experience more accessible and enjoyable for customers.”
No word just yet on when, or if, this technology will be rolled out for all shows and users, but it stands to reason that Prime is going to at least try to get us all on board as soon as possible, especially with big hitters Fallout Season 2, Reacher Season 4, and The Boys Season 5 waiting in the wings.
The new comes hot on the heels of Disney boss Bob Iger’s confirmation that the company’s streaming service will soon allow subscribers to create and view AI-generated content.
Speaking during the company’s latest earnings call, Iger said Disney+ would change to also host user-generated content for the first time, in a step that looks set to open the floodgates for fans keen to make their own creations featuring the likes of Darth Vader, Iron Man, and characters from Frozen.
“[We’re] in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes — from a product perspective, from a technology perspective — since we launched the service in 2019,” Iger said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
