Amazon Adds AI-Generated Recaps to Prime Video Offerings

Amazon is turning to artificial intelligence to help Prime Video users stay current on shows they’re watching.

The streamer has added AI-generated recaps for some of its original series, pitching it as a way for viewers to get back into a show they haven’t seen for a while — whether by choice or because of a long hiatus between seasons — or just to refresh their memories. They’re called X-Ray Recaps and add to Prime Video’s X-Ray feature, which shows the names of actors on screen when a show or movie is paused and provides details about a title’s production and soundtrack.

“Prime Video product and technology teams work relentlessly behind-the-scenes to enhance customers’ viewing experience, and with the creation of X-Ray Recaps, we’re directly addressing a common problem customers face when streaming content: forgetting where they left off,” Adam Gray, vp product at Prime Video, said in a statement. “With this context-aware functionality, Prime Video will deliver summaries of memorable moments and important plot points, so our customers can quickly jump back into what they were watching or rediscover why they fell in love with a series in the first place.”

Prime Video also notes that the recaps can be a way to save viewers from (gasp) having to rewind to a moment they missed. “While your initial instinct may be to rewind or search online for a summary, this approach is inconvenient and takes you away from the streaming experience,” the streamer says in its press release. “You also run the risk of encountering a spoiler or re-watching parts you’ve already seen.”

The X-Ray Recaps are powered by Amazon Bedrock, a service within Amazon Web Services that builds and scales generative AI apps. The company says the service analyzes video, dialogue and subtitles to generate detailed — but spoiler-free, Amazon insists — descriptions of key plot points and events. Viewers can choose to view episode summaries, a “season so far” option and recaps of prior seasons of a show.

The recaps are currently available on Amazon MGM Studios original series, among them Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Upload, The Boys and The Wheel of Time.