Tubi strikes ChatGPT deal that cuts out human movie recommendations

A new ChatGPT-powered recommendation app could work, I guess

Tubi, the ad-supported service where you can watch everything from masterpieces like Goodfellas to schlocky erotic spy movies such as Malibu Express all for free, is one of our most robust streaming platforms. While the Fox-owned company has signed lucrative deals with Universal and Warner Bros. to ensure a steady slate of recognizable titles, I get the most joy from Tubi when I’m at the bottom of the barrel, finding whatever lost films have managed to survive the closing of rental stores and find a home outside the majors like Netflix. Sure, I could watch great movies like Dredd or Sunshine on Tubi, or I could learn for myself why Mandroid has an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. I always choose the latter path.

At Polygon, we nurture that sense of discovery… and demand people tell us when they watch something awesome. We love mining for hidden gems and begging you to watch them when you can. If I stumble upon Arena, an unsung Star Wars-meets-Rocky B-movie from 1989, you better believe I will race to the nearest computer terminal to type out an ode to Arena in hopes that you too will watch it.

So it brings me no pleasure to announce that Tubi made me a little mad on Thursday morning, when I found out that the company had just launched a first-of-its kind app inside ChatGPT to provide chatbots with the ability to recommend Tubi movies based on users’ vibes. According to the press release, users can add Tubi’s app from ChatGPT app store and type “@Tubi” to hunt for what they’re in the mood for, “whether that’s ‘a movie that feels like a fever dream but isn’t horror’ or ‘a thriller for tonight.’”

OK.

“Streaming should feel effortless, and as chatbots and AI agents are becoming a common way people navigate the internet, Tubi is expanding its discovery experience to meet viewers in the moment they’re expressing intent in their own words,” Mike Bidgoli, Tubi’s chief product and technology officer, said in a statement. “At the core of Tubi is a deeply scaled personalization and discovery system, trained on more than 1 billion monthly hours of viewing from over 100 million active users. Recent AI breakthroughs are compounding that advantage, enhancing how Tubi interprets intent, reasons over content, and connects viewers to the right titles faster. This launch brings that system into a conversational interface, making it seamless to go from an idea to the perfect match and content rabbit hole.”

OK.

With Google having been in the automated movie recommendation for years now, it’s no surprise to see a tech-forward company like Tubi vying for a spot on the ground floor of how many, many people will decide what to watch in the future. But it’s unclear if someone stoned enough to want to watch “a movie that feels like a fever dream but isn’t horror” would have the capacity to type that into ChatGPT — or if anyone would lift a finger to seek out a recommendation of any kind.

Because here’s the thing about people that none of the chatbot preaching seems to understand: people have no idea what they want. And the endless scroll of 30,000 movie-deep streaming libraries have only flattened the Normal Viewer’s ability to discern their own preferences for going back and watching something remotely old. If it’s not in a top slot of Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Tubi, or other streaming platform, you usually won’t find it on any top 10 chart.

What I do know is that people love a human-approved recommendation, especially when it comes to Tubi, where one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I personally love Gemini Man, Will Smith’s mega-bomb from 2019, but pitching it to a prospective viewer requires some explanation. If I asked a chatbot to find me a genuine masterpiece on Tubi buried under DreamWorks Animation movies, I don’t know if I trust the generative AI to pull up the non-American Memories of a Murder. Is John Carpenter’s “final” film horror enough or too scary for the fever-dream fan? Would anyone go to the length to ask for a Joe Keery-led found-footage thriller? Or know to cite “noir” for detective classics? I doubt rebellious queer art, gory camp classics, and lost animated films are top of mind for tech executives, so I wonder if an AI tool could really benefit those interested in such things — or anticipate what they might like without really asking for it.

I’ll never hate Tubi, the home of so many sword-and-sandal oddities, episodes of The Incredible Hulk, and a terrible-looking Asylum movie called Meth Gator which I’m going to watch later tonight. But the idea that the only needed calculus behind a fulfilling recommendation is a bot that can crunch genre tags and plot summaries into a “what to watch” response is a fallacy perpetrated by those in charge. Yes, it’s personal, but also… finding good stuff to watch takes work!

I would trust ChatGPT to give me a list of 10 action movies that are currently on Tubi. I would not trust ChatGPT to explain why a 2025 genre-bending invasion thriller starring Michael Jai White is worth my time. I’ll stick with recommendations from people with eyeballs, brains, and funny bones.