Samsung has announced that it’s bringing Microsoft’s Copilot AI to select 2025 TVs and monitors, and it’s not the only TV brand to have added Copilot to its models, as LG supports it on its latest models.
But is this just another case of adding AI for AI’s sake?
The examples used in the press release don’t go into too much depth, in fact it feels as if what Copilot is doing is similar to the experience you’re already getting from your TVs. That’s a big issue that AI is currently facing (among others) while attempting to integrate into people’s everyday lives.
A better experience?
In Microsoft’s press release, it comments that Copilot will a bring a more visual and personal experience. Watch the video on the Microsoft blog, and you’re presented with what looks like an amorphous blob in the vein of the newborn souls from Pixar’s Soul. You can chat to it and it’ll respond to you with expressions that “match the tone of the conversation”.
It’s designed to make using your TV more personable and engaging; to make it easier and quicker to find what you want.
As the press release mentions: “…when Copilot answers, it doesn’t just tell you; it shows you. Movies, weather, and image results appear as rich, glanceable cards designed for the big screen, complete with ratings, photos, and key details.”
I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a search function like any other modern TV. There is nothing here that strikes as much different from Alexa on Fire TVs, Google Assistant on Google TVs or any other smart assistant. This feels very familiar aside from the visual gloss of Copilot.
AI for AI’s sake?
Copilot aims to distill all the information that’s out there nad parse it to you in brief, easy to understand blocks. Microsoft says it’ll be able to offer:
- Custom, spoiler-free recaps, such as what happened if you stopped watching a TV series at a specific episode.
- Specific recommendations that relate to your needs and likes, such as “Like The Queen’s Gambit, but about cooking instead of chess, and under two hours.”
- Picks for more than one person, so something that appeals to everyone in the room; as well as “post-watch deep dives” that provides information on certain aspects within that film or TV show.
- And then there’s your everyday help, like informing you of what the weather’s like or the one example Microsoft put down – “cheer me up after a breakup”.
I don’t want to constantly harp on about AI and whether the way it’s being utilised makes the most of its potential, but looking at the list of those examples; they’re not things I look for or want.
If I’ve stopped watching a series mid-way through, I don’t need a recap, I’ll just watch the from the beginning again. These examples feel like ways of giving AI purpose, but it feels more like AI is waiting for something to do and someone’s decided to give it a task to make it important.
More than that, this level of AI integration feels like it’s going in the opposite direction of personalised interfaces. I was under the impression that the whole point of modern UX’s like Google TV and webOS was that they were evaluating what you watched and serving up recommendations based on what you’ve seen, like a restaurant you’ve been to before and the waiters know your preferences.
Copilot doesn’t seem like it knows what I like or want, and wants to give me information I’m not convinced I want. It sounds like a very fancy search engine.
We’ve been here before…
Despite this current AI boom, AI in devices has been here for years but companies are trying to latch onto it and make it part of their branding story. I’m beginning to feel that it’s a bit lazy, mainly as it’s not really doing much more than it was just a few years ago, and it’s struggling to find relevant ways to make your life better. What companies want is flashy AI that’s all bells and whistles to get your attention, when AI should be a) efficient and b) unseen.
But this wave of AI-powered devices is one we’ve before in the tech world with smart speakers. There was something of a craze where every new wireless speaker had to have a voice assistant. Nowadays that’s not the case. People rarely seemed to use the smart assistants, and a number of speaker brands have simply decided to omit voice assistants. No one used it, therefore it wasn’t relevant.
And I’m thinking a similar rejection could happen with TVs.
Few will use this techology, many won’t be aware it’s even there to use. Why do we need more AI in our TVs? Well, companies need something new to sell to attract people’s attention, but AI sounds like a bridge that most people won’t be bothered crossing.
