In the summer of 2018, Netflix removed all user reviews and comments from their platform (Variety, 2018). This indicates a significant change in the way Netflix wants to illustrate to its user what content is best suited for them.
Recommendation Tool
More than 80% of the TV shows the people watch on Netflix, are discovered through their recommendation tool (Wired, 2017). It illustrates that the main driving force of engagement on the platform is based on this tool. Therefore it is no surprise that Netflix has put all their eggs in this basket. User reviews and comments don’t properly contribute to the recommendations that Netflix want and have therefore been removed.
Artificial Intelligence
The tool utilizes both Machine learning and algorithms in order to find out what shows you will like in the future (Wired, 2017). The tool wants to predict what kind of shows you like, based on your preferences. These preferences are based on nuanced threads in the content. This means that the predictions aren’t based on simple genres such as ‘horror’ or ‘action’ but focus more on the deeper themes that are part of a tv-show or movie.
Replacement of human expertise
What is noticeable here is that the entire recommendation process, a process that is vital for the engagement of Netflix, is completely done by an AI system. This exemplifies a trend that can be seen throughout several industries: Human expertise is replaced by complex systems. In this context, Netflix feels that their AI system is much more proficient in knowing what you like, than other humans or even yourself! It is a trend with the idea of: ‘Our algorithm is a lot smarter than you are, and it knows what you want.’
While this might seem like a novel and interesting concept, we have to be wary with letting complex algorithms take over our normal tasks. There are two reasons for this:
- Who understands these algorithms? While these algorithms might prove to be very useful, they are often very complex and when we take decisions based on things we do not understand, we are onto a slippery slope.
- Loss of human autonomy. We also have to consider that we do not simply outsource everything to complex systems. Mainly because complex does not necessarily mean better. On top of that, when removing these tasks from human workers, we’re losing the ability to perform these tasks.
Conclusion
Netflix aims to tell you what you think you like and while this could work very well, we have to be wary of letting complex systems think about what we like.
References:
Variety (2018). Netflix has deleted all its user reviews from its website. Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/netflix-deletes-all-user-reviews-1202908904/
Wired (2017). This is how Netflix’s top-secret recommendation system works. Wired Magazine. Available at: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-do-netflixs-algorithms-work-machine-learning-helps-to-predict-what-viewers-will-like
