Entertainment enjoyers have been asking “What should we watch tonight?” since TV existed, but over the last few decades, technology has expanded the options from “whatever is on the three channels we get” to “almost everything that has ever been broadcast in human history”—leaving many paralyzed with choice, but no closer to answering the key question. Enter Likewise, an app aimed at giving you the best answer possible.
Founded by a team of ex-Microsoft employees with an investment from Bill Gates, Likewise has been working to improve entertainment recommendations for movies and TV, books, and podcasts since 2017. “We were created to solve the absolute mess that is content discovery,” Likewise co founder and CEO Ian Morris told me. “Our mission is to provide every single person out there with their own personal entertainment.”
Likewise’s most recent addition is a fun-to-use TikTok-like infinite scroll interface and deeper integration of AI into its recommendation process. In press-release speak, Likewise works by “seamlessly integrating its AI-powered personal agent and leveraging advanced algorithms and 600 million consumer recommendations.” In practice, you download the Likewise App for iOS or Android, tell it some of the genres, movies, TV shows, books, and/or podcasts you like, and start poking around.
How Likewise works
Likewise attacks the “what do I watch” problem from a couple of angles at once. It compiles an extensive profile of individuals users’ taste preferences and recommends based on that; it also links you with its community of over 2.5 million users, specifically to users who share tases with you, then lets you ask the community for its favorites. You can check out the lists curated and compiled by Likewise’s editorial staff, or use its AI agent to search using natural language.
Unlike the recommendation algorithms from a single streaming service, Likewise is cross-platform and community-driven, so it’s going to try to give you the best horror movies for you based on more than the formula Netflix uses, instead of providing the best horror movies for you that are also on Netflix (unless that’s what you ask for).
“It’s designed to be action-oriented,” Morris explained. “If you see something you like, you can click the save button and save it to your watchlist, then see where it’s available for streaming. You have the Rotten Tomato ratings, and the IMDB rating, and community reviews, then you can play it on your Roku. So it’s not just a query engine.”
Breaking out of the app
You can also use Likewise outside of your phone. A Likewise app is available on Roku, AppleTV, and Firestick, and can be used as a central hub for accessing media on those devices. You can also contact Pix, Likewise’s AI agent, directly from the website, send it a text from your phone at (877) TEXTPIX, or send a question via email. Unlike asking ChatGPT, Pix will add the results of your query to your Likewise list.
Testing Likewise’s AI with a ridiculous query
I like to mess with artificial intelligence, so I emailed Pix the following: “Compile a list of a movies that housewife in 1981 might enjoy if she was contemplating leaving her husband and children in order to pursue her dream of becoming a professional surfer.”
Here is what Pix returned.
“Sounds like you’re looking for some cinematic inspiration to catch that dream wave, am I right? 🏄♀️ I’ve whipped up a list of movies that would have resonated with a housewife in 1981, contemplating a wild life change towards professional surfing. Hope these help stir up that beachy ambition! 🌴
The Endless Summer (1966): A timeless classic in the world of surfing films. It’s all about chasing summer around the world. Talk about surf’s up, right? 🌞🏄♀️
An Unmarried Woman (1978): It’s about a woman rediscovering herself after a divorce. It should resonate well with the idea of starting anew. 💔🔄💖
Breaking Away (1979): It’s a coming-of-age story about chasing dreams, which might be a great source of inspiration for our 1981 housewife. 🏁🚲
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979): While it’s about a divorce and custody battle, it puts a good perspective on the family aspect for someone considering leaving. 👪⚖️
Norma Rae (1979): This one’s all about a woman standing up for what she believes in, despite the odds. Kind of the feel we’re going for, right? ✊💪
Ordinary People (1980): This one would resonate well, as it’s about a family trying to cope with the loss of one of their own. Might give some perspective on what the family might go through. 🏠💔
On Golden Pond (1981): An ageing couple’s journey might just help our protagonist see her existing life from a fresh lens. 👵👴💖
While I absolutely loathe the writing style of AI when it’s trying to be “casual,” the movies are all in the ballpark, at least.
