NBUniversal’s Peacock streamer is revving up a number of new technology innovations that will roll out on the platform, including plans for an AI-powered Andy Cohen Avatar who will guide viewers through Bravo‘s big library of series as well as recommend new shows.
Cohen spoke Sunday at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas on Sunday alongside Matt Strauss, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, and host and writer S.E. Cupp.
Strauss opened the session by unveiling a series of new tech features and content formats coming to Peacock subscribers. The Andy Cohen avatar is designed to help users sift through hundreds of series in the Bravo library. As users provide Peacock with information about the shows and personalities that interest them, the Cohen avatar will pop up with recommendations, or it can pop up mid-episode to answer specific questions about what is going on during a particular episode or scene.
“It’s really infinite and exciting,” Cohen told the SXSW crowd, after assuring them that it was him in the flesh, not a synthetic clone. Cohen is synonymous with Bravo as the host of “Watch What Happens Live” and the creator and engine of the “Real Housewives” franchise that is the platform’s cornerstone program.
Strauss described the Cohen avatar as “using generative AI to weave decades of Bravo footage into a first of its kind, personalized experience.” It would appear to build off the feature that NBCUniversal has used during its Olympics coverage that offers an avatar of famed sports announcer Al Michaels to help guide viewers through voluminous Olympic highlights offered via Peacock.
More to come
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