Amazon Prime Video is testing a new generative AI-powered feature called Video Recaps, designed to help viewers quickly catch up on key plot points before diving into a new season of their favorite shows. The feature uses AI to analyze a season’s most important moments—such as pivotal plot developments and character arcs—and then assembles a short, cinematic-style summary video using selected clips, music, sound effects, and an AI-generated voiceover narration. The beta rollout began this week for select English-language Prime Original series, including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Upload, Bosch, The Rig, and Fallout—set to return for its second season on December 17th, 2025. These recaps will appear as a dedicated button on the show’s detail page when users navigate to the next season. Initially, the feature is available only on Fire TV devices in the living room, with plans to expand to other platforms in the coming months. According to Amazon, the AI first processes the full season to identify what matters most to viewers, then curates and edits footage into a cohesive, engaging recap. The final output varies in length—around three minutes for a season three recap of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, as seen in a promotional image—but is designed to feel like a professional trailer. While the feature could be a helpful tool for fans of long-running series with extended breaks between seasons, questions remain about its necessity. With fewer than 20 original drama series on Prime Video, and the current rollout limited to just a handful, the scale of the effort raises doubts about whether AI is the most efficient or accurate solution. Human editors could easily produce high-quality recaps, and they would be less likely to miss nuance or misrepresent storylines. There’s also the risk of AI-generated inaccuracies—misleading summaries, missed context, or misinterpreted character motivations—that could confuse viewers as they re-enter a story. For a platform that prides itself on original content, the idea of relying on AI to summarize its own shows feels like a shortcut, especially when the alternative—hiring a few writers or editors—would be both feasible and more reliable. Still, for a company like Amazon, which is investing heavily in AI across its services, Video Recaps may be less about utility and more about showcasing its technological capabilities. Whether it becomes a standard feature or remains a niche experiment will depend on how well it performs in real-world use and whether viewers find it genuinely helpful—or just a clever but unnecessary gimmick.