TasteMonster uses AI to choose your next box set
TasteMonster, developed by FuzzyLogic in Cape Town, uses artificial intelligence to predict and match TV shows and films to customers' tastes in real-time. Unlike Netflix or iTunes which use simple genre-based or associative suggestions, the service processes more than 25 million ratings and generates 16,000 film predictions based on a user's rating of other films or series.
Often, the biggest issue with binge-watching series or movie sequels is finding content you’ll actually enjoy. That’s the problem local service TasteMonster is trying to solve.

Developed in Cape Town by FuzzyLogic founder Rick De Villiers, TasteMonster is a “unique intuitive system for streaming sites enables users to access tailored predictions and match shows and movies in real time for you and your friends”.

Although the service launched back in October 2015, it has only recently come of age, with the addition of more TV shows.

According to the press release, the service processes more than 25-million ratings and generates 16 000 movie predictions based on how you rate other movies or series. TasteMonster also compiles ratings from hundreds of critics — but it doesn’t use these to rank movies or series. Instead, it’s purely based on your tastes, at least that’s how de Villiers explains it.

TasteMonster uses machine-learning to predict what movies or series you’ll enjoy

“If you have experienced Netflix or iTunes recommendations you’ll know how irrelevant they can be. Most have fallen back to simple genre-based or associative suggestions, for instance, I really enjoy Star Wars but dislike Star Trek. The problem here is that my taste in Sci-Fi movies is quite selective and simple recommendations just don’t work for me and are not accurate enough,” he notes.

The service also collates recommendations in real-time, and if you happen to invite friends to the service, TasteMonster will collate your results alongside theirs.

TasteMonster, as visually polished product, isn’t quite there as yet. But the prediction service, at least according to Memeburn staffers, is pretty accurate.

We’ll be conducting a longer test in the course of the week, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can visit TasteMonster here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the service in the comments below.