Netflix today announced the release of Max, a personal content assistant and guide that the company calls the "child of Siri and HAL 9000." Max is designed to help users choose movies and television shows to view, and he does so using personal tastes.

Max asks a user questions about mood and movie viewing preferences in order to come up with a suggestion. He also uses Netflix's algorithms to predict content that a particular user might enjoy and plays a number of "games" to make selections.

max

One of the experiences Max offers is called the "ratings game," where you pick a genre to fit your mood and then rate a few titles on the familiar Netflix five star scale.

Sometimes, when Max feels particularly confident, he will offer a fun, personalized suggestion after asking only one simple question. Here Max asks you to pick between two highly specific genres that are personalized and use the very detailed tags we have on all of the shows and movies that are available on Netflix.

Other times, when intoxicated by past success, Max will get a little cocky and offer a suggestion right away, no questions required. The catch…this is a mystery suggestion and you'll just have to press play and trust him.


While Max is currently only available as a beta for PlayStation 3 users, Netflix says that if the experiment turns out to be successful, Max will be available on other devices in the future, "likely the iPad next."

Top Rated Comments

mrxak Avatar
148 months ago
Is that you, Clippy?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Plutonius Avatar
148 months ago
What if you want to watch a movie that was just released to video ? Does Max say pfft :D. Netflix is great for older content but not good for newer content (especially movies). I love Netflix but would rather have them spending their money on content instead of Max.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TsMkLg068426 Avatar
148 months ago
Ehh, instead I think Netflix should be working on getting licenses for more movies and TV shows.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bevz Avatar
148 months ago
Meh... Give me multiple user profiles and then I'll be interested.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thatsfinebut Avatar
148 months ago
Siri and Max are going to get married

I agree. I've been getting to know the new male version of Siri, and I think he would get along great with Max. They're both so lighthearted.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
garya73 Avatar
148 months ago
Ehh, instead I think Netflix should be working on getting licenses for more movies and TV shows.

Agreed. Let's start with all the content they lost earlier this year. I was going to subscribe, but after they gave up 1,400 titles, no thanks.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
maxresdefault

Hands On With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini

Friday November 8, 2024 12:21 pm PST by
Apple launched the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with M4 chips today, and because the Mac mini is the only one of the machines that got a design update, we thought we'd check it out to see how it compares to the prior version. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The 2024 version of the Mac mini is much smaller than the previous M2 model, so it takes up...
High Power Mode Feature 2

Apple Expands High Power Mode to MacBook Pro and Mac Mini Models With M4 Pro Chip

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15 pm PST by
High Power Mode is available on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip, according to Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham. The feature was previously limited to Macs with Apple's highest-end "Max" chip, so this is the first time it is available on Macs with a "Pro" chip. This is the second time that Apple has expanded availability of High Power...
next generation carplay multi display

Here's the Latest on Next-Generation CarPlay After 2.5 Years of Waiting

Wednesday November 6, 2024 8:33 am PST by
It has been nearly two and a half years since Apple first previewed next-generation CarPlay at WWDC 2022, and it has still yet to become available in any vehicles. Below, we recap the latest information about next-generation CarPlay. Launch Timing Apple's website continues to say that the first vehicles with next-generation CarPlay support will "arrive in 2024," but it has yet to provide ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Skipping the New MacBook Pro? Here Are the Rumors About M5 Models

Friday November 8, 2024 9:35 am PST by
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips launched in stores today. If you are not planning to upgrade this year, be aware that there are already rumors about next year's MacBook Pro models with M5 series chips. It appears the MacBook Pro will remain on an annual upgrade cycle next year. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said camera module...