What you need to know
- Amazon announced a new Alexa Plus feature for its Fire TVs, known as “jump to scene.”
- This feature lets users explain a movie scene that they’d like the AI to produce by using natural speech and as many descriptors as possible, like people involved, movie title, quotes, and more.
- Amazon launched a wide array of new Fire TV series products in September, as well as bringing Alexa Plus to Canadian users.
With the holidays rolling around, there’s always that influx of movie watching, which is probably why Amazon’s AI, Alexa Plus, is being updated with a feature that might help.
This morning (Dec 3), Amazon announced that a new Alexa Plus feature is rolling out onto its Fire TVs, known as “jump to scene.” The company states this feature is designed to help viewers do one thing: “getting you to what you want to watch—fast.” After activating Alexa Plus on your Fire TV, Amazon states users can describe a movie scene, naturally, as if in a conversation, to the AI.
The post states that this new “jump to scene” feature lets users be as descriptive as possible. If you’re aware of the actors or actresses involved, share that with the AI; even things like a character’s name, a quote, and more are useful.
As one might expect, this feature only works between Alexa Plus and your Amazon Prime Video subscription. The AI will take your “jump to the…” scene description and run it through Prime Video to find the appropriate match. However, as this rolls out today (Dec 3), it seems that not everything is there for the AI to reach back into. Amazon states Alexa Plus can leverage “thousands” of available movie titles, as well as “tens of thousands of indexed scenes,” but there’s room to grow.
Amazon plans to continue to build upon Alexa Plus’ knowledge base of movies, so users can—potentially—find a match to any scene they’re looking up. There are a few examples of how the “jump to scene” feature can work for viewers to peruse. In addition to your Prime Video subscription, this feature works with rented and purchased movies on the service.
Do you remember that one scene…?
Amazon’s really been going all-in with its newest Alexa model, Alexa Plus, even bringing it to more users in Canada late in November. As the AI positions itself as a more personalized entertainment AI, especially when on Fire TV, its Canadian debut came with “culturally tailored features” for those consumers. Alexa Plus in Amazon’s collection of smart home devices offers ambient AI capabilities that enable it to respond to daily routines and more.
Those in Canada must pay $27.99 per month for Alexa Plus; however, the AI is free if you have Prime.
Elsewhere, Amazon launched a new Fire TV series at the end of September, which this Alexa Plus movie feature builds upon. The company revealed the new Fire TV Stick 4K Select, as well as two new Omni QLED TVs, a new 2-Series model, and a new 4-Series model. Alexa Plus was involved in this announcement, as Amazon said the AI could deliver information about the content you’re watching.
Alexa Plus can inform you about the actors in a movie or show, and even gain tidbits about where that content was filmed.
