We haven't been swept up in the artificial intelligence craze here at What Hi-Fi? quite as much as everyone else as our interest lies purely in picture and sound performance. However, when we see artificial intelligence creep into TVs and media streamers, it becomes a rare intersection where AV and AI meet.
This was most recently evidenced by the Google Gemini AI launching on the upcoming Google TV Streamer, which it shares with various Android-powered smartphones including the new Pixel 9 series. Gemini appears to be baked into the software of the Google TV Streamer, with show and movie synopsis generation and more intelligent content suggestions based on your viewing habits being the two major features driven by artificial intelligence.
While these aren't what we'd consider to be earth-shattering developments for the world of media streamers, it's certainly opening a door to further integration down the line; and a more accurate content recommendation system is certainly a welcome feature. Now, as we've seen Apple launch the iPhone 16 with its "Apple Intelligence" smarts, I cannot help but wonder if an AI-imbued Apple TV could be what I need.
I've already called the Apple TV 4K "comfortably the best streamer", and a major part of that, aside from its stellar picture and sound performance, is down to its slick interface. That being said, it doesn't involve itself in content suggestions quite as deeply as Google TV or Fire TV streamers do, meaning I often find myself seeing content that I wasn't even aware had been released. If Apple could leverage its new AI to improve this function, then that would be another notch in the Apple TV 4K's belt.
I'm also willing to bet that Apple is a step ahead where artificial intelligence faux pas is concerned. Google has had some teething problems with Gemini across its various functions, including the AI Overview tool producing dubious answers and citing not-so-trustworthy sources according to other publications such as Forbes, but Apple's track record of launching its own version of popular features with tighter quality control gives us some hope for how we can expect Apple Intelligence to function. And, if it functions well on an iPhone, we anticipate that it could be right at home on the Apple TV.
There is also a case to be made for the smarter Siri assistant. We've already found a handful of useful voice commands on the current Apple TV model, including the ingenious "What did they say?" feature that automatically rewinds 10 seconds and applies subtitles for that piece of dialogue; but just think of what else Siri could do with the power of more advanced AI. It's already fairly good at finding content or pointing you in the direction of something similar after a voice search, but I wouldn't be opposed to it getting even better.
While news of an upgraded Apple TV 4K with Apple Intelligence hasn't been made official at today's "It's Glowtime" event, I can see Apple taking the fight directly to Google in the near future.
MORE:
Read our full Apple TV 4K (2022) review
And find everything you need to know about the Google TV Streamer
Read our full Amazon Fire TV Cube (third generation) review