By the end of the year, Bouygues Telecom will offer its subscribers, free of charge, an artificial intelligence service called “Together Tonight”. With the idea, for the operator, of making content recommendations.
The operator Bouygues Telecom wants to end the battle for the remote control. At VivaTech, the actor showed us for the first time his future service, a generative AI directly integrated into the Bbox TV decoder, in the form of an application. The latter is intended to help families solve a problem that everyone has already encountered at least once: choosing video content to watch as a family, which can sometimes take up to 20 minutes. Availability, operation and technical questions, in Paris, the operator has delivered all its information to Clubic.
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Bouygues Telecom enriches the user experience thanks to generative AI
The “Together Tonight” service is a generative artificial intelligence programmed to be based on user habits and the content catalogs of streaming platforms. To access it, Bouygues Telecom requires a 4K Android TV decoder, normal, since it is an application. Bbox Must and Ultym subscribers will definitely be able to benefit from it.
The latter, when offered to subscribers, could be displayed on the home page, as a shortcut. But the service will be attached to the “Apps & Games” entry of Bouygues Telecom’s Bbox TV interface.
Once “Together Tonight” is launched, three of the contents most likely to please us are offered. Let us specify that the proposals are based on our history, and that it is obviously possible to prevent the operator from collecting this history.
Generative AI for content recommendation
The interesting side of the application comes when you can’t find what you’re looking for in a flash, and you need a little help to come up with the right idea. This is where we call on “LucIA” (its name is not yet final), the application’s generative AI assistance, which allows discussion in real time, with questions contextualized by relation to the moment and the audience.
The AI then generates a question, such as “What kind of universe attracts you the most this evening”, and suggested answers, for example “Fantasy”, “Contemporary”, “Futuristic” or “Exotic”, generally four . To make your choice, you can use the remote control.
But during our test, we noticed the appearance of a QR code on the right of the television. By flashing it with our smartphone, we are sent back to the phone in a few seconds, via which we can also “vote” for the preferred genre. But it is also possible, from your smartphone, to provide more details on your desires, using a chat synchronized with the TV, which will be accompanied by voice command, via the decoder remote control. The AI then analyzes the content catalogs to give three proposals, in line with the desires of the moment.
The chat allows you to be even more precise in your desires
Above each tile, the AI generates and explains why it made these three choices. This is not a summary of the film but rather a commentary on the result by artificial intelligence. For example, if the family has chosen more of the “Fantasy” genre, and you add the comment “science fiction” in the chat (a curious mix, we know), the AI tries to offer coherent choices. For the first film, she explains for example that “ this film explores the origins of fantasy, a genre that interests you, according to the survey “.
It is always possible to refine the result by clicking on the “Continue searching together” button. You can also ask the application to “See other proposals” or “Review previous proposals”.
Bouygues bases its tool on Amazon Bedrock and is working to include other platforms
With Mathieu Chondroyannis, Head of Innovation and Dematerialization at Bouygues Telecom, we took the time, on the parent company’s stand at VivaTech, to discuss other details about the application. First, know that its commercial launch will take place, for Bbox customers, at “ last trimestre » 2024.
Mathieu Chondroyannis reminds us that the application is in a minimum level phase, “ it will obviously be improved until launch “, he specifies. Moreover, the tool is based on the Amazon Bedrock service, the American giant’s platform which allows you to create and develop your own generative AI applications, using multiple models. It uses, by the way, the same method as that at the origin of the Prime Video platform.
Besides, let’s talk about platforms. During our demo, we only saw Prime and Disney+ highlighted. Mathieu Chondroyannis confirms to us that he wants “ enrich the service, to ideally have the completeness of the platforms. What is planned is to have live channels and replay », in addition to the streaming services mentioned. On the other hand, no Netflix on the program, even if behind the scenes, Bouygues Telecom would be active on this last point.
Journalist, responsible for Clubic news. Reporter, videographer, host and even singer-imitator, I wrote my first article in 6th grade. I made this vocation my profession (graduated from EJCAM, a school recognized by the profession), to write, interview, film, edit and produce written, audio or video content on a daily basis. Some chemistry with Tech, certainly, but also with the world of media, sport and travel. In addition to journalism, video production and animation, I have a YouTube channel (in my name) which should pique your curiosity if you like beautiful walks around the world, new technologies and music 🙂
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