Summary
- Alexa+ on Fire TV uses AI to find shows and movies by themes and personal taste.
- It recognizes actors from thumbnails and finds titles from vague plot or scene descriptions.
- Live sports integration shows upcoming games, queues broadcasts, and serves instant highlights.
During its fall devices event, Amazon revealed its new Alexa+ features for Fire TV. The brand-new AI-powered assistant features are being used to elevate the company’s new Fire TV 4K Select stick and Fire TV series. The refresh includes the Omni Series display, as well as the Fire TV 2 and Fire TV 4 series. Expanding on its Alexa+ platform, the new integrations allow users to better discover new shows and movies to watch based on preferences and themes.
I got a chance to see how Alexa+ integrates with Amazon’s new Fire TV devices, complementing the viewing experience while watching a TV show or movie. The additional software helps someone like me, who often struggles to land on a new show to watch without defaulting to The Office for the hundredth time. The AI-powered algorithm takes personal preferences can cross-references available subscriptions to find that next series to begin binging.
Faster responses and curation
You don’t even have to know the name of a movie for Alexa+ to find it
With Alexa+ integrated into the viewing experience, you can interact with the AI assistant as if you’re talking to a friend. In a hands-off demo, I saw how easy it is to find a new movie based on something you’ve watched previously. For instance, during the demo an Amazon employee asked Alexa to find something following a recent viewing of La La Land. The result offered suggestions that revolved around the theme of “chasing your dreams.” I was also shown how Alexa+ can compile a curated list of movies under the ‘Artistic passion and dreams’ theme.
Users can even find suggested movies with a specific actor, without having to even refer to the actor’s name. Alexa+ can understand what’s selected within the UI, pull an actor that’s on the thumbnail, and find relevant suggestions based on the star. For instance, Alexa+ was able to read Bradly Cooper’s face on the thumbnail for Burnt and even suggest the recent Superman movie, which features the actor in a cameo role.Most impressively, Alexa+ can even pull up movies or shows without you having the names on hand. When interacting with the AI-powered assistant, users can provide a vague plot line, theme, or sequence and have Alexa+ accurately retrieve that piece of content. So, “that movie where the three friends lose their friend in Vegas” is all you need to bring up The Hangover.
Intelligent results for live sports
Find when your favorite team is playing next
The Alexa+ integrations don’t exclusively work on streamable content. During a demo during the keynote, it was shown that users can simply ask for the team’s name to find results. For instance, by asking Alexa for “Yankees” content, the next Yankees game will be shown, letting the user queue up the game and not miss a moment. Even if the user is waiting for a game to begin, Alexa+ can provide a free highlight reel for the user to view.
This is a really novel addition, especially for fans of baseball or football, where keeping up with the match calendar is nearly a full-time job in and of itself. Using Alexa+, users can have the peace of mind that they’ll know when their favorite team is playing.
Find that iconic scene in a movie instantaneously
Alexa+ can pull up your favorite moment in a movie or show
One of the coolest features I saw in person was how Alexa indexes and can pinpoint specific films and Prime Video content. If you wanted to find your favorite scene in a movie or re-watch a pulse-pounding moment, Alexa+ can accurately pull that scene up.
In a demo, Alexa+ accurately brought up the Let it Snow scene from Frozen simply by asking to bring up the “famous Elsa song” in the movie. This could become a go-to for when I re-watch the “portals” scene from Avengers: Endgame every time I want to feel something.
