Tubi taps up ChatGPT to make finding great free movies and shows easier

Tubi
(Image credit: Tubi)

Wouldn't it be great if you could navigate the best streaming services with plain language questions such as "show me some funny shark movies?". That's what Fox's ad-supported streamer, Tubi, is about to deliver. Its new Rabbit AI uses the large language modeling of ChatGPT to turbocharge its search feature to make it easier and quicker to find what you want.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, senior product director Blake Basset says: “At Tubi we’re uniquely situated to find content for viewers that’s specific to the moment they’re in because of our large library and our personalization and machine learning algorithms. With Rabbit AI we’re making the content discovery experience fun again.”

And it does sound like fun. It's designed so that you can talk to it just like you would talk to a friend, so you might ask for funny movies about a particular subject, or more serious stuff by theme, cast or director. This is the kind of thing ChatGPT and similar systems do very well, so it's unlikely to be disastrous when it launches.

When can I use AI with Tubi streaming?

Let's not go down the "is it really AI?" rabbit hole (it isn't, it's a very clever autocorrect) and stick with Tubi's description. Rabbit AI is rolling out in a beta test version to iOS users, and the Rabbit AI plugin is also available on the OpenAI service if you're a subscriber there. As ever, with betas you should expect glitches and general weirdness. It's still a work in progress rather than a polished product.

This is the first use of ChatGPT in streaming search, but it won't be the last. You can expect more of the same from other streaming services in the coming months. Amazon has already brought large language models to Alexa for much more conversational interactions and possibly more of your money too. Apple is also beavering away on who knows what in order to make Siri more useful across its products, including Apple TV and possibly Apple TV Plus too. 

What all of these systems are likely to have in common is that they'll improve over time. The more data they have about your particular preferences and the success or otherwise of their recommendations, the better they'll become at finding the right content for you. And that helps the streamers as much as it helps you, because it adds to the stickiness of the service. If the recommendation engine really gets you, the prospect of starting all over again with a rival streamer may not be quite so appealing.

You might also like

Carrie Marshall
Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

Read more
A TV in a living room with the language settings displayed
Prime Video is testing AI dubbing to make movies and shows more accessible – and might avoid the backlash that hit Netflix
ChatGPT search on a laptop.
What is ChatGPT search: everything you need to know about the AI search tool
Search bar.
'Ads are coming.' An AI search expert predicts what the future of search is going to look like
ChatGPT logo
ChatGPT explained – everything you need to know about the AI chatbot
ChatGPT on a phone
What is ChatGPT: everything you should know about the AI chatbot
Rabbit AI Android Agent
Rabbit AI's new tool can control Android apps and devices, but I’m not sure how I feel about letting it control my smartphone
Latest in Streaming
Matt Murdock smiling in Daredevil: Born Again episode 5 and Kamala Khan looking stunned in The Marvels
Daredevil: Born Again episode 5 just revealed what Kamala Khan has been up to since The Marvels, and now I'm more excited for the next superhero team to appear in the MCU
A collage image showing images from the TV shows The White Lotus on Max, Black Mirror on Netflix and The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu.
I'm pausing my Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Paramount+ subscriptions in April 2025 – here are the 3 streaming services I'm keeping instead
A collage of Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Tatiana Maslany's She-Hulk
Marvel fans are already tired of Doomsday and Secret Wars cast gossip as two more superheroes get linked with roles in the next two Avengers movies
Venezuela's forward #09 Jhonder Cadiz celebrates after scoring during the 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers football match between Ecuador and Venezuela, at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito, on March 21, 2025 ahead of Venezuela vs Peru
Venezuela vs Peru live stream: how to watch today's FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier anywhere online
The cast of Alone Australia season 3, standing in a knee-high body of water
How to watch Alone Australia season 3 online – stream the survival show from anywhere
Netflix Ads
Netflix adds HDR10+ support – great news for Samsung TV owners, but don't expect LG and Sony to do the same any time soon
Latest in News
A young woman is working on a laptop in a relaxed office space.
I’ll admit, Microsoft’s new Windows 11 update surprised me with its usefulness, providing accessibility fixes, a gamepad keyboard layout, and PC spec cards
inZOI promotional material.
inZOI has become the most wishlisted game on Steam, but I wouldn't get too caught up in the hype
Xbox Series X and Xbox wireless controller set to a green background
Xbox Insiders are currently testing a new Game Hub feature that looks useful, but I've got mixed feelings about it
A stylized depiction of a padlocked WiFi symbol sitting in the centre of an interlocking vault.
Broadcom warns of worrying security flaws affecting VMware tools
Nespresso Vertuo Pop machine in Candy Pink with coffee drinks and capsules
My favorite Nespresso coffee maker just got a fresh new makeover, and now I love it even more
Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface Pro devices on a table.
Hate Windows 11’s search? Microsoft is fixing it with AI, and that almost makes me want to buy a Copilot+ PC