The telecom and pay TV industries are moving to embed artificial intelligence directly into television operating systems through a new partnership announced this week. Fetch.ai and RedSquid TV have launched an agentic AI television platform designed for service providers, while Fetch.ai founder Humayun Sheikh has taken a personal stake in the television software business and joined its board.
This initiative aims to transform the television from a passive viewing screen into an active agent. Instead of just surfacing content, the system is designed to respond to spoken requests and carry out actions for users. The companies list arranging a family film night, booking holiday packages featured in documentaries, or ordering ingredients linked to recipes as examples of how the technology will function.
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Agents built on the system could also compare services, manage subscriptions, complete purchases and interact with other connected devices in the home. This functionality relies on the integration of Fetch.ai’s technology stack, including ASI:One for generating AI-driven answers, Agentverse for allowing software agents to interact with one another, and Fetch Business for letting retailers offer verified services through the interface.
Sheikh, who was an early investor in DeepMind, described the shift in language. “Artificial intelligence is evolving from answering questions to achieving outcomes. The next generation of AI won’t simply assist people — it will act on their behalf,” he said in comments accompanying the announcement.
He noted that television remains a major consumer platform that has not yet been fully reimagined for the agentic AI era. RedSquid TV has built something exceptionally rare: complete control of the television software stack, from the chipset to the glass. That provides the foundation needed for Agentic AI to become part of the television itself rather than another cloud service layered on top.
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The commercial argument for the platform centres on control. Telecoms groups and pay TV operators have invested heavily in broadband and mobile networks, but much of the digital customer experience has shifted to smartphone platforms and cloud-based services run by larger technology companies. RedSquid TV’s system manages the software stack from chipset integration to the on-screen interface, a structure that Fetch.ai argues allows its AI agents to be embedded within the operating system rather than existing only as an external service.
That approach could allow more processing to happen on the device itself as edge AI develops. This shift could reduce delay, cut reliance on cloud computing and keep more user activity within the home environment. For operators, the proposed benefit is greater control over customer data, the service relationship and related commercial activity, particularly as AI becomes a new layer through which households discover content, shop and manage services.
