TRO | The TV that Talks Back

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

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Meliora Company
October 27, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Subscribe | 27th October, 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. The TV That Talks Back

Samsung has struck a deal with Perplexity AI, making it one of the default assistants on select smart TVs. When users hit the “AI” button on their remote, they can now choose between Perplexity, Microsoft’s Copilot, or Samsung’s own TV assistant — turning the television into a conversational discovery surface rather than a passive screen.

Here’s why this matters: This signals the next frontier for AI interfaces: the living room. As phones and PCs hit saturation, the TV - one of the most universal household devices - is being reimagined as an interactive hub for curiosity, search, and conversation. It’s a reminder that AI isn’t just changing what we do on screens, but what screens can do for us.

2. Wonder is building ‘Hollywood Without Borders’

Wonder Studios - founded by former OpenAI and DeepMind leaders - has raised US$12 million in seed funding to build a new kind of production platform, positioning itself as ‘Hollywood without borders’. Their goal: connect creative talent with AI tools that remove the old limits of geography, budget, and access.

Here’s why this matters: This is the next phase of entertainment, where AI doesn’t replace creators, it expands what they can do. Wonder’s approach blurs the line between studio and platform, unlocking international IP, faster experimentation, and new creative economies. It’s a glimpse of how storytelling might scale without losing its soul.

3. Block Scales Culture Faster Than Code

In just eight weeks, fintech company Block now has 12,000 employees using AI agents daily - not as a side project, but as part of their workflow. The rollout worked because teams weren’t told what to use, they were asked what slowed them down, and given the tools to create custom agents around those friction points.

Here’s why this matters: This is what AI at scale is beginning to look like - fast, pragmatic, and cultural. Block is designing an organisation where anyone can automate their repetitive tasks and focus on what they’re best at. Block’s use of Slack channels to share employee use cases has helped to build the culture of innovation, and building with MCP as a standard has enabled security and privacy compliance.

Still Curious?

Our Pursuit Of Better

With the launch of OpenAI’s Atlas Browser this week, the ways in which we interact with the internet are changing. AMER Associate Krish Raja breaks down a new era for the open web in this article. We’ve taken Atlas for a spin this week and used agent-mode to (slowly) make a dinner reservation with varying levels of success - but we’re watching this space with interest and a healthy dose of optimism.

As long time fans of the Every blog and newsletter, we’ve been road testing ‘Spiral’ - a GenAI writing partner ‘with taste’. From long form article production to short form social and newsletter authoring, Spiral’s approach is to ask clarifying questions and produce multiple drafts, and the result is writing that is has natural rhythm and you can customise to suit your tone.

This week, Perplexity released ‘Perplexity At Work: A guide to getting more done.’ Whilst the guide relates to Perplexity’s products, the themes and takeaways are relevant to any stack and remind leaders to encourage curiosity, create focussed space for exploration and frame GenAI as a thinking partner, not a replacement.

The Story of Shazam - The Early Years

With thanks to Meliora Strategic Partner 18Sixty, this week we’re sharing the story of The Early Years of Shazam. In 2001, in an office in Soho, up a rickety flight of stairs, four founders are building an algorithm to solve a problem as old as radio itself - ‘what’s that song?’. This is a story that’s shaped Meliora’s DNA, where creative courage, level three curiosity and years of relentless optimism culminate in the internet verb that Shazam is today.

Meliora Associate Spotlight

Vijay Solanki - Australia

With an international leadership background, Vijay has held CEO, CMO and CIO roles in organisations including Unilever, Shazam, Philips and many media companies and startups. He brings deep experience in GenAI, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Leadership.

Amy McClelland - UK

Amy is tech native who specialises in premium audience experiences and scalable business growth. Helping startups break into global markets and guiding traditional broadcasters through digital transformation, she is a hybrid blend of creative, operational, and strategic expertise.

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”.