Amazon has introduced AI-generated “Video Recaps” for Prime Video series.
Now in beta on U.S. smart TVs, the feature uses AI to identify the “key plot points and character arcs” of a given TV season and combines video clips of them with voice narration, dialogue snippets and music. The idea is that users can get a quick refresher of what happened in the last season before jumping into the new one.
This feature builds on the “X-Ray Recaps” feature that Amazon started testing last year. This AI-powered tool created text-based summaries of entire seasons of shows, individual episodes and even specific scenes.
For now, the feature is being tested for the English-language series Fallout, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Upload, Bosch, and The Rig. That said, Amazon didn’t mention when the feature might roll out beyond the U.S. into other markets like Canada.
On a larger level, Amazon also didn’t address how, exactly, AI might consider “key plot points and character arcs.” While some of these are obvious — like, say, Hughie’s girlfriend being killed in front of him in The Boys pilot — other developments are arguably more subjective. After all, what’s “key” to one viewer might not necessarily be key to another. How would an AI be able to determine what’s even “key?”
It’s also worth noting that we’ve already seen some pushback to AI-generated recaps in the book space. Speaking to Engadget earlier this year, multiple authors took issue with how the likes of Amazon’s own Kindle and ebook rival Kobo were using generative AI to summarize their works. In particular, some authors were discovering that the AI was incorrectly recapping their stories. And even if the AI presents technically accurate information, there’s always the question of whether it’s showing what the original artists intended.
All in all, there’s reason to be skeptical here, as with any generative AI venture. It remains to be seen how well Amazon’s Video Recaps will go.
Image credit: Amazon
Source: Amazon Via: The Hollywood Reporter
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