Samsung has inked a deal to include Perplexity's AI engine on its latest smart TVs, the companies told me first.

Why it matters: The move is a sign that the shared living room experience is likely to be another key battleground in the AI wars.

Driving the news: Samsung's deal will make Perplexity an option when owners of select TVs press the AI button.

• Samsung will let users choose among Perplexity, Microsoft's Copilot and Samsung's own TV-focused AI, announced at CES in January.
• The service is free and there isn't currently a way for paid Perplexity subscribers to access premium features.
• "This is really just step one," Samsung senior director Dan Glassman told me. "We're excited to keep innovating with Perplexity."
• It's the first global partnership for Perplexity on the TV, although the company announced an earlier deal with Telefonica to be included on set-top boxes from Movistar in Spain.
• "We want to be wherever people have questions," Ryan Foutty, Perplexity's VP of business, told me.

The big picture: After the phone and computer, the television often comes up as a natural place for new technology, given its ubiquity.

• Google is also putting its Gemini assistant front and center on Google TV, with Chinese electronics maker TCL first to incorporate the new technology.
• Long, personal AI chats will likely stay on phones and computers. But the TV is a natural place for quick queries — like figuring out what's on or where you know an actor from.
• One of the benefits of AI engines is they can handle queries by voice, since most TVs don't have keyboards.

Between the lines: Glassman said AI is the latest technology to make sense on the TV, following earlier efforts to use screens for gaming or art displays.

Yes, but: The living room is also tricky. The consumer tech graveyard is littered with apps and services that aimed to make the TV more interactive beyond serving up something to watch.

What we're watching: TV sets are still the heart of shared living room experiences, but the once-central screen must justify itself in a world where people increasingly also watch content on phones, tablets and PCs.

Ransomware gangs are embedding AI into their workflows, allowing them to fine-tune and amplify attacks that have already stolen billions from U.S. corporations.

Why it matters: Most cases of cyber criminals using AI are still outliers, security responders say, but AI tools promise to accelerate the attacks that have wreaked havoc across industries.

The big picture: Ransomware gangs experiment with generative AI to negotiate ransoms, write code and sharpen social engineering attacks.

• Security analysts at cybersecurity firm ReliaQuest said in a report today that 80% of the ransomware-as-a-service groups they observe are now offering automation or other AI tools on their platform.
• NYU researchers showed in August they could use local LLMs to "autonomously plan, adapt and execute" a ransomware attack.
• Palo Alto Networks observed criminals using AI-generated audio and video to impersonate employees and gain access before deploying ransomware.

Yes, but: Most gangs still rely on cheap, unsophisticated tactics that work just fine.

• Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at Sophos, told Axios that AI use is the "exception, and not the norm" as of now.
• Many AI experimenters are low-level affiliates focused on access, said Tony Anscombe, chief security evangelist at cybersecurity firm ESET.

Threat level: Ransomware has already accounted for 91% of all incurred losses among cyber risk firm Resilience's customer base in the first half of 2025, according to data published in September.

• That could get worse.
• Microsoft also said in a report last week that adversaries are already starting to use AI tools to identify vulnerabilities, generate malware and improve their phishing campaigns.

Zoom in: Anthropic banned an account that was tied to a U.K. cyber criminal group that was using its Claude model to "develop, market, and distribute ransomware," according to Anthropic's August threat intelligence report.

• The group has only been active since January, but their tactics have advanced quickly, the company noted in the report, suggesting that Claude filled in the gaps for their "limited technical expertise."
• The hackers appeared unable to carry out encryption and other basic tactics without Claude's help. Yet, they were still selling viable ransomware packages for $400 to $1,200, according to the report

Between the lines: The next generation of ransomware actors will be AI natives who are keen to automate the entire process, Pilling said.

• "They'll be better at the [AI] tech, but worse at the ransomware and then that will kind of get better over time," he added.
• Anscombe foresees the target of ransomware attacks changing from stealing sensitive files to poisoning internal AI models.
• "It would be really hard to detect if somebody did do this," he said.

A genetic testing startup launched an AI genomics research arm today aimed at predicting the likelihood that IVF embryos will develop certain cancers, Alzheimer's and other chronic diseases.

Why it matters: Nucleus Genomics is taking preventative health to an entirely new level: before birth.

• "Genomics is one of the greatest preventative medicine tools that's ever existed," CEO Kian Sadeghi, who founded Nucleus when he was 20, told Axios.
• But assigning embryos risk scores is also expensive and controversial.

The company is rolling out nine new "genetic optimization models" branded under the name Origin — part of the company's new Nucleus Labs — that will use DNA analysis to scan for Alzheimer's, breast cancer, coronary heart disease, endometriosis, hypertension, prostate cancer, arthritis, and Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

The intrigue: Origin is "open weighted," meaning anyone in the research community can access it and build upon the models, Sadeghi told Axios.

How it works: Through the company's IVF+ service, parents can opt for the nine risk tests, as well as screenings for over 2,000 genetic conditions and traits that offer IQ and hair color predictions.

• The Origin process uses AI to analyze 7 million genetic markers with algorithms that are trained on 1.5 million people's data, Sadeghi said.
• IVF+ full concierge service isn't cheap: The cost starts at $30,000.

Critics have said tests like these could draw a further divide between certain types of children in society, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

• Sadeghi, who has talked about losing his cousin to a genetic disease, said his company is advancing technology that's already being used. IVF clinics already test embryos for chromosomal abnormalities that can lead to conditions such as Down syndrome.

• Adobe announced a program yesterday in which businesses can pay for custom Firefly AI models trained on their unique intellectual property. (VentureBeat)
• Anthropic is bringing Claude Code to the web and mobile devices. (TechCrunch)
• OpenAI said it will crack down on celebrity Sora deepfakes after complaints from SAG-AFTRA and Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston. (CNBC)
• Google Cloud named former Accenture CTO Karthik Narain to be its chief product and business officer.

The reporter featured on the U.K. Channel 4 news special "Will AI Take My Job?" doesn't have to worry because it already did.