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Roku is updating its voice assistant with AI features that can answer questions about movies, shows, and actors, as well as help you find something to watch next. Now, instead of just following simple commands, Roku says its voice assistant can respond to questions like “How scary is The Shining?” or “What kind of fish is Nemo?”
Roku Voice will display a text response on your screen, while also offering links to shows or movies relevant to your query. It’s similar to the AI features Amazon brought to Fire TVs last year, which it recently upgraded with a new Alexa Plus integration that can help you search for specific scenes, as well as tell you about an actor’s background, a movie’s film location, and more. Netflix is also piloting a conversational search feature powered by OpenAI.
Roku’s voice assistant will display a text response on-screen. Image: Roku
Roku’s voice assistant isn’t the only thing getting an update. The company said that it’s expanding its Bluetooth headphone mode to the Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus. This feature allows you to wirelessly connect Bluetooth headphones to a Roku device for private listening.
The mobile Roku app is getting an update, too, with new shortcuts to closed captions, the sleep timer, daily trivia, and the “find my remote” feature. Roku is adding a new rate button that lets you “like,” “dislike,” or mark a title as watched, in addition to ways to sort your For You page by shows, movies, sports, and more.
Roku’s “Ways to watch” button allows you to jump into a title. Image: Roku
You’ll also find a “Ways to watch” button alongside trailers, making it easier to jump into a show or movie you’re interested in, while Roku’s search bar is coming to more areas of the platform, starting with the What to Watch and Live TV Zone sections. It plans on bringing search to the Live TV Channel Guide in the “coming months.”
Additionally, you’ll now see real-time sports scores alongside games in Roku Sports. The platform notes that you can hide the scores in case you don’t want a spoiler, and set reminders for upcoming games that Roku will send to your phone.