I Tried Tubi in ChatGPT and Didn’t Hate It

OpenAI is doing its best to turn ChatGPT into an app platform, so you can access apps like Adobe Photoshop, Canva, and Apple Music directly in the AI ​​chatbot interface. Tubi is now the first video streaming app available in ChatGPT.

You can’t load real movies and TV shows from the ChatGPT dialog, but you can search for titles you might like and see what’s available in the Tubi library. The idea is that you never know what to watch next: tell ChatGPT and Tubi what you’re looking for and you’ll get personalized results.

As an avid watcher of movies and shows, I couldn’t wait to try it out as soon as it became available.

What Tubi can do in ChatGPT

You can find the Applications portal in the left navigation pane in ChatGPT on desktop or mobile: find the Tubi app, click Connect on its listing page, and from there it will be available through the + (more) in the ChatGPT prompt box. You can also access it with an “@tubi” mention in one of your prompts.

First, I asked what to watch next if I’m a fan of classic action thrillers like The fugitive And Crimson Tideand Tubi delivered: Its selection of titles like Enemy of the State, No way outAnd American Marshalls (the lesser known sequel to The fugitive) were pretty fair and covered many other similar films that I’ve already seen and enjoyed.

The Tubi app in ChatGPT.
Credit: Lifehacker

Tubi can also leverage user reviews. I asked about the highest-rated TV shows of the 2020s, and it came up with some pretty obvious choices like Breakup, SuccessionAnd Andor. However, none of these are available on Tubi. I had several “access errors” to the Tubi catalog when using the ChatGPT integration, and when they did occur, the service would stick to more general recommendations.

I wanted to see if I could ask Tubi for a recommendation To drive (which is available on the platform), therefore requested a “cool 2011 thriller based on a book and set in Los Angeles”. Maybe it was too many clues, but it actually got the movie I was looking for, showing that ChatGPT and Tubi have access to accurate enough metadata to find picks like this.

Tubi’s recommendations were generally good.
Credit: Lifehacker

I also asked for “classic TV series” to see if Tubi would come back with something I’d never heard of before. The recommendations were rather limited and I didn’t discover anything new that I particularly wanted to watch, but given that the AI ​​operates within the confines of the Tubi library, the results were all acceptable.

You don’t just have to use Tubi in ChatGPT to get recommendations. You can also ask to see what’s trending on the platform at any given time, or test your knowledge of TV shows and movies by playing the Tubi quiz: just ask to “test my movie knowledge” (or something along those lines) to get it started.

The pros and cons of AI research

There’s something appealing about being able to search for “a dreamy 2000s movie suitable for adults and teens with a thoughtful, nostalgic vibe” rather than just scrolling through a thousand titles in the “drama” category. This is the kind of nuance and natural conversation that AI bots now offer, with or without Tubi (and it came back with Lost in translationwhich fits pretty well).

You can run these searches in standard ChatGPT, although the Tubi integration lets you focus on titles you’ll actually be able to stream on the free platform. If you specifically want to see something on Tubi, this is a convenient way to filter your selection immediately, without any additional steps.

You can also ask what’s trending on Tubi.
Credit: Lifehacker

I can see myself turning to a recommendation tool like this again in the future, but I’m still not completely convinced. Sure, ChatGPT and other AI bots still look compelling, but that’s by design: they won’t admit that they don’t have relevant choices and will always serve something, no matter how closely it matches (or doesn’t) what you’re looking for.

Ultimately, the AI ​​models that ChatGPT and Tubi rely on haven’t seen movies or TV shows, or sat in a movie theater, or felt emotion of any kind. Whether you’re plugging your queries into this new Tubi tool or browsing the “recommended” bar on any streaming service, you’re relying on algorithms and metadata.

Some results will be limited by what is available on Tubi.
Credit: Lifehacker

It’s not the same as asking a trusted friend or relative for a recommendation, or even reading a recommendation from a human, who has actually had some of the experiences they see on screen.

I worry that AI will make our viewing of movies and TV shows more flattened and generic with its recommendations – the same way it generates generic, flattened text and artwork – so while I’ll probably run Tubi again in ChatGPT in the future, I’ll still keep human recommendations in the mix. And I’ll still scroll for 20 minutes to find hidden gems – as inefficient as that may be, it’s by chance that I found some of my favorite movies.