HBO Max Rolls Out “Shorts” Vertical Video Feed and AI-Powered Conversational Search

Warner Bros. announced on Tuesday that the HBO Max app will soon feature a TikTok-style “Shorts” feed and an experimental conversational search tool. The Shorts feed presents trailers, clips and bonus material from the service’s library in a vertical, scrollable format. Users can tap a short to start the full program, add it to “My List,” or ignore it.

TechCrunch

Both features rely on machine-learning systems that analyze scene-level metadata across thousands of hours of HBO Max content. An in-house AI tool identifies compelling moments, then human editors select the final clips that appear in the Shorts feed. The AI-driven search employs natural-language understanding and semantic search to interpret user queries and match them with titles, drawing on each viewer’s watch history for personalization. The Shorts feed is currently being tested with select iOS users in the United States, while the conversational search is available to a limited group of Android users in the same market. Warner Bros. said additional devices and regions will be added later.

TechCrunch

The move follows a broader industry shift toward short-form video as a discovery aid. Netflix, Disney+, Peacock and Amazon have introduced comparable vertical video feeds or AI-enhanced search experiences to help users navigate ever-larger content libraries. HBO Max’s entry reflects the growing expectation that streaming platforms provide quick, bite-size previews akin to those popular on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

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TechCrunch

• “We’re thrilled to launch this application of AI to accelerate the creation of these clips and look forward to quickly expanding to make even more of our amazing content offering discoverable through this new feature,” — Deepna Devkar, HBO Max senior vice president of Machine Learning Engineering

Hollywood Reporter