Roku Unveils AI-Powered Voice Assistant and Platform Enhancements

Roku Voice Will Soon Let You Ask Questions and Search With AI

Roku is set to roll out a host of tweaks to its popular streaming platform, including AI interactions on its Voice feature and Bluetooth support on the latest Sticks. The company says the updates will arrive "in the coming months." Also read: Best Streaming Device for 2025: Top Picks Reviewed The company says Roku Voice will now use a "combination of in-house and commercial generative AI and LLM technology," through an unnamed provider. This will enable contextual interactions -- e.g. "Is Barbie suitable for kids?" -- and search. Roku Voice will also understand context and you can ask follow-up questions, similar to demonstrations CNET has seen of Google Gemini on TV. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. When asked about privacy when using the AI, a Spotify spokesperson told CNET, "We follow Roku's published privacy policy and viewer settings." Roku did not respond immediately to CNET's question about which company was providing the AI technology, or how Roku would protect its users' privacy. The company also announced the Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus will now allow Bluetooth headphone connections. This capability was previously only available to the larger set tops and Roku TVs. The mobile app has also had a glow-up with more control functions available when you swipe upwards, and these include quick-access shortcuts such as Find My Remote and Closed Captions. Roku is also expanding its Search bar to more screens including What to Watch, Live TV Zone and Live TV Channel Guide. The interface will include a new "Ways to Watch" button featuring trailers and streaming apps under each title while browsing. The company also showed off a second portable Roku projector, the Vankyo Roku TV Smart Projector H500R, though it appears similar to the existing Aurzen model. It will be available at Walmart this week with prices to be announced. Lastly, the Roku Sports tab will include Live Scores and Reminders so that you can be notified of game times.

Roku's AI-upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about what you're watching

Roku is updating its voice assistant with AI features that can answer questions about movies, shows, and actors, as well as help you find something to watch next. Now, instead of just following simple commands, Roku says its voice assistant can respond to questions like "How scary is The Shining?" or "What kind of fish is Nemo?" Roku Voice will display a text response on your screen, while also offering links to shows or movies relevant to your query. It's similar to the AI features Amazon brought to Fire TVs last year, which it recently upgraded with a new Alexa Plus integration that can help you search for specific scenes, as well as tell you about an actor's background, a movie's film location, and more. Netflix is also piloting a conversational search feature powered by OpenAI. Roku's voice assistant isn't the only thing getting an update. The company said that it's expanding its Bluetooth headphone mode to the Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus. This feature allows you to wirelessly connect Bluetooth headphones to a Roku device for private listening. The mobile Roku app is getting an update, too, with new shortcuts to closed captions, the sleep timer, daily trivia, and the "find my remote" feature. Roku is adding a new rate button that lets you "like," "dislike," or mark a title as watched, in addition to ways to sort your For You page by shows, movies, sports, and more. You'll also find a "Ways to watch" button alongside trailers, making it easier to jump into a show or movie you're interested in, while Roku's search bar is coming to more areas of the platform, starting with the What to Watch and Live TV Zone sections. It plans on bringing search to the Live TV Channel Guide in the "coming months." Additionally, you'll now see real-time sports scores alongside games in Roku Sports. The platform notes that you can hide the scores in case you don't want a spoiler, and set reminders for upcoming games that Roku will send to your phone.

Roku's Voice Assistant Gets AI Smarts to Tell You If a Show Is Worth Your Time

Jibin is a tech news writer based in Ahmedabad, India, who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Roku has announced a series of new software features, with AI capabilities for its voice assistant being the biggest highlight. Once the updates roll out in the next few months, you can ask the assistant questions about movies, shows, or actors you plan to catch up on. Ask "What's Barbie about?" or "How scary is The Shining?" and the assistant will display its text response on your TV screen. Roku is also introducing a few updates to make it easier to find streaming services. For trailer playbacks, it will show corresponding streamers under a new button called "Ways to watch." And on the "What to Watch" tab, it will display up to two streaming platforms under each tile, tailored to match your active subscriptions. Similar upgrades are coming to Roku Sports. As you swipe through game tiles, you'll see live scores. If you tap on a tile for an upcoming game, you'll also see the option to set a reminder. If you decide to stay up late for the game, you can use the new Bluetooth Headphone Mode for private listening. This feature can also be used to watch shows or listen to music without disturbing anyone nearby, and it will be rolling out globally for the Roku Streaming Stick and the Streaming Stick Plus. Live TV Zone and Live TV Channel Guide, on the other hand, will get a Search bar for easier navigation. Meanwhile, on the mobile app, shortcuts for Closed Captions, Find My Remote, Sleep Timer, Daily Trivia, and more will appear on the My Roku page. Additionally, as you browse through titles, you'll find buttons to Like, Dislike, or mark a title as Watched. Roku is also working on improving recommendations. You'll soon come across an interface with multiple options for TV shows, movies, and sports teams. You can give a thumbs up to your favorites, and Roku will curate its recommendations accordingly. This experience is similar to what you see on music streaming platforms. Roku says the updates will roll out "in the coming months." They arrive as more TV and streaming device makers begin integrating AI into their products. Samsung, for example, has integrated Copilot AI into some of its new TVs, while DirecTV plans to show AI-powered ads as screensavers next year.

Roku's next update adds AI voice support to answer all of your trivia-related questions

Google TV might be the platform of choice for Pixel fans, but Roku still maintains a massive hold over the streaming experience. With its latest update, the company's delivering some pretty big enhancements to how search works on the platform -- including the addition of AI voice support -- while also adding live sports scores and making it much easier to start watching something during Friday movie nights. With its fall update, Roku is bringing a ton of new functionality to its devices, and unsurprisingly, AI is a big factor. Roku's voice search now supports a custom-built AI interface that allows audiences to ask questions related to all sorts of entertainment, including movies, shows, and actors. The examples given in Roku's announcement aren't particularly deep -- "What's Barbie about?" is the main example given, and at the risk of sounding dismissive, it's about Barbie -- but it could be handy, especially since answers are shown directly on the TV, rather than requiring your smartphone. It's not the only search-related change, though. Roku is bringing its search functionality to its Live TV Zone and Live TV Channel Guide in the coming months, after bringing it to What to Watch in September. That should make it faster to skip through the service's FAST channel collection to find exactly what you're looking for, and as a frequent FAST-viewer myself, it's a welcome change. Movie trailers are getting a "Ways to watch" button that directly links to supported applications and storefronts, allowing you to directly jump into your next binge-watch. Similarly, search results will now display up to two streaming applications where that particular movie or show can be found, with the selected options based on your currently-active subscriptions. Both improvements seem to be aimed at getting you to watching movies or shows faster than before. For sports fans, Roku's sports-focused app will now display live scores over the game selection tiles, allowing you to see all ongoing games as they develop. Crucially, this can be disabled, so if you'd rather not know that your beloved Buffalo Bills and their current 4-2 record might be a little fraudulent, well, at least you don't have to close your eyes to avoid it. Roku is also adding reminders for upcoming games that send notifications directly to your phone through the company's app, so you don't need to keep track of, say, a hectic MLB playoff period all on your own. Finally, a handful of other changes are included as part of this release, including Bluetooth headphone support on the Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus. The mobile app is also getting options for closed captions and Find My Remote functionality, among other improvements. Roku says these improvements are rolling out to supported devices "in the coming months."

Roku is getting a Gemini-style AI upgrade to make your TV even smarter

Bluetooth Headphone Mode rolling out globally to Streaming Stick / Stick Plus Roku has announced a host of updates to its smart TV platform that'll arrive in the coming months, including an AI upgrade that sounds very similar to the Gemini feature on Google TV. Roku Voice is getting a big upgrade, and in addition to the usual command-based navigation you'll be able to ask questions such as "what kind of fish is Nemo?" or "how scary is The Shining?" and get spoken responses. Roku Voice will also be able to parse follow-up questions, and it'll offer quick launch options for shows and movies from its catalog where appropriate and relevant. Roku has also improved its discovery features. Trailer playbacks get a new Ways To Watch button, which enables you to see which channels or apps can stream the program, and to jump directly from the preview into the show or movie. The search feature is getting more useful too. It's already been added to the What to Watch section, and Roku is going to roll it out to more parts of the platform. The Live TV Zone is the next destination to get the search tool, and after that it'll roll out to the Live TV Channel Guide. When you browse, your Roku TV or streaming device will show you where you can stream each title by highlighting up to two streaming apps based on your active subscriptions. Another welcome feature is the Bluetooth Headphone Mode, which is rolling out to more devices. It'll be coming to both the Roku Streaming Stick and the Roku Streaming Stick Plus. In addition to the above improvements, Roku is also rolling out new Live Scores and Reminders for Roku Sports. The former will display live results on game tiles, allowing you to keep an eye on multiple events at once. Additionally, there's a no-spoilers setting if you're planning to watch events on catch-up. And Reminders will send you a mobile notification when it's time to tune in for a game. Roku is also going to roll out improvements to its mobile app, starting in the next few weeks, including some most-wanted features such as closed captioning, Find My Remote, sleep timers and quick-access shortcuts. There's a new Rate button that enables you to mark shows and movies as liked, disliked and/or watched, mirroring the TV app, and your feedback will sync across all your devices. The For You page will also get a new navigation bar organizing everything into sensible categories such as TV Shows, Movies, and Sports. The software updates will begin rolling out to Roku devices and to the mobile app stores in the next few weeks.

Your Roku TV and streaming sticks get a bumper update, and yes there's AI too

Roku Voice has been given an AI upgrade just in time for the holidays What's happened? Roku's fall software update has added AI to Roku Voice and new features to help you get to the content you want, faster. Roku Voice can now keep up with the conversation you're having with it thanks to the AI integration, with the ability to handle follow-up questions without you repeating yourself. Ask about a movie or actor, see the response on the screen, and you'll also be offered button to start watching. You'll also notice when viewing a trailer a 'Ways to Watch' button has been adding, allowing you to jump straight into the show or movie if you like the look of what you're seeing. Search has been expanded as well, and is now available in the Live TV Zone, with the Channel Guide next. This is important because: Your Roku TV (or Roku Streaming Stick) now does more of the work, shortening the gap between a question and the show you meant to watch, and it trims a bunch of pointless clicks. One request, one useful result, then play. You can start from the trailer instead of hunting through apps. Skip dead end suggestions, as badges will appear if the content is available on the streaming services you subscribe to. Rate on TV or phone and recommendations update across both. Recommended Videos Why should I care? These are everyday wins, especially for households sharing a screen or watching late. You'll spend less time deciding and more time actually watching with privacy. Ask, get the answer on TV, and start it. No need to move through multiple screens. Sports get easier with live tile scores and optional reminders. Bluetooth private listening hits Streaming Stick 4K and Roku Streaming Stick+ for quiet nights. The For You page adds cleaner categories, so it's faster to scan. Okay, so what's next? The rollout begins this fall, with more features landing over the coming months. Live TV search will reach the Channel Guide, the mobile app gains handy shortcuts and a Rate button, and sports tiles update in real time. Rivals are chasing the same goal, better entertainment with fewer detours, but Roku's on-screen voice flow keeps the focus on getting to play quickly. Guide-level search comes next to speed channel flipping. Mobile shortcuts and ratings help steer picks sooner. Real-time scores and reminders keep you on time for games. Vankyo's Roku TV Smart Projector H500R arrives at Walmart for an easy big-screen setup. See how it compares to the best projectors. Roku H500R Smart TV Projector $198 Walmart.com