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VP Jim Bennett discusses how recommendation systems suggest your next movie and the challenges of building a better one.

By Kate Greene, Technology Review, Oct 6, 2006. Netflix' star rating system helps determine personalized movie recommendations. Now the company is looking to outside developers to improve those recommendations.

Earlier this week, Netflix, the online movie rental service, announced it will award $1 million to anyone who can come up with an algorithm that improves the accuracy of its movie recommendation service.

In doing so, the company is putting out a call to researchers who specialize in machine learning--the type of artificial intelligence used to build systems that recommend music, books, and movies. The entrant who can increase the accuracy of the Netflix recommendation system, which is called Cinematch, by 10 percent by 2011 will win the prize.

Recommendation systems such as those used by Netflix, Amazon, and other Web retailers are based on the principle that if two people enjoy the same product, they're likely to have other favorites in common too.

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