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
127 months ago
Is that you, Clippy?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Plutonius Avatar
127 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
127 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
127 months ago
Meh... Give me multiple user profiles and then I'll be interested.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thatsfinebut Avatar
127 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
127 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)

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