TRO | Microsoft Says It Doesn’t See An AI Bubble

Your Meliora briefing on how GenAI and Creativity are unlocking a brighter, smarter future.

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Meliora Company
November 17, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Subscribe | 17th November, 2025

In this fast-moving GenAI economy, headlines are everywhere but optimism is rare.

Here’s our take on 3 stories that will help you be relentlessly optimistic about the future.

1. Disney CEO teases AI UCG Inside Disney Plus

Disney is teasing user generated AI short form video features inside Disney+, and CEO Bob Iger has now gone further - calling AI an “engagement engine” that will support Disney’s artists and unlock new ways for audiences to interact with stories. While Disney hasn’t detailed specific product features yet, Iger says AI will play a meaningful role in how characters, scenes, and experiences evolve across the platform.

Here’s why this matters: We are seeing a fundamental shift in how big storytellers think about GenAI. A future where there’s room for audiences to play in these worlds too by creating clips, moments, and side stories that sit alongside the originals. It points to a future where streaming platforms don’t just host finished episodes, they become living, participatory story spaces shaped by artists and fans.

2. Microsoft Says It Doesn’t See An AI Bubble

Despite constant talk of an AI bubble, Microsoft says the data tells a different story. Capital spending for the quarter surged to $34.9 billion - up nearly 50% from $24.2 billion the previous quarter and largely driven by AI infrastructure. The company expects to spend more than $80 billion on AI-related capex this year, with actual spend likely far higher. That’s on top of a newly announced $15.2 billion investment in AI infrastructure in the UAE. Microsoft’s view is simple: this level of demand doesn’t look like a bubble.

Here’s why this matters: Despite extensive commentary on the potential burst of the AI bubble, Microsoft’s spending indicates that nothing is slowing down any time soon. In order to keep up with demand, the company is pushing to expand its compute and capability - reporting sustained Copilot adoption, rising Azure AI usage, and steady enterprise interest across regulated sectors. That’s the opposite of hype-cycle behaviour.

3. Oscar Winning Actors Sign Deals With ElevenLabs

Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have become the latest major actors to license their voices for AI replicas. Their agreements outline exactly how their vocal likeness can be used, protected and compensated. McConaughey, who is an active investor in ElevenLabs has will now allow the GenAI company to translate his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, into a Spanish-language audio version using his voice.

Here’s why this matters: This is a glimpse of how identity will work in the next era of entertainment. When Oscar winners start negotiating the terms of their AI voice models, it’s a move toward GenAI agency.

It sets cultural norms: consent first, compensation built in, and creative control preserved. And it opens the door to something genuinely exciting - actors expanding their craft across formats, languages and decades.

Still Curious?

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If you’re already working inside Jira and Confluence, then Rovo feels like adding a smart colleague who actually reads everything. It pulls context from your projects, issues and docs, then turns that into instant answers, summaries and suggestions. It’s brilliant for reducing meeting overflow, finding the one doc you swore you saved and speeding up cross-team decision-making.

The Story of The Kick That Changed Everything

With thanks to Meliora Strategic Partner 18Sixty, this week we’re sharing the story of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Optus Sport. But this story isn't just about what happened on the pitch. It's about the hundred days before ‘that kick’ - when a telecommunications company took a gamble. What if 85% of the country decided to watch? What if the Matildas went all the way? What if technology helped change the standing of women’s football forever?

Meliora Associate Spotlight

Celia Wallace - Australia

Celia Wallace brings deep expertise in customer growth, brand strategy and business transformation, shaped by a rare combination of consulting, client and global advertising agency experience.

Lee Ellison - USA

Lee is a dynamic and accomplished Chief Executive Officer with a track record of driving rapid revenue growth and securing market leadership across both startup ventures and publicly listed technology firms.

The Pursuit of Better, Together

If this week’s newsletter sparked something, pass it on to a colleague. The best conversations often start with “You’ve got to read this”.