Netflix today announced the release of Max, a personal content assistant and guide that the company calls the "child of Siri and HAL 9000." Max is designed to help users choose movies and television shows to view, and he does so using personal tastes. Max asks a user questions about mood and movie viewing preferences in order to come up with a suggestion. He also uses Netflix's algorithms to predict content that a particular user might enjoy and plays a number of "games" to make selections. One of the experiences Max offers is called the "ratings game," where you pick a genre to fit your mood and then rate a few titles on the familiar Netflix five star scale. Sometimes, when Max feels particularly confident, he will offer
