One of the world's largest TV manufacturers has agreed to incorporate interactive technology developed by Disruptel, a four-year-old St. Louis startup.
Electronics firm will incorporate St. Louis startup’s smart-TV technology | David Nicklaus
A screen capture shows how Disruptel's image recognition technology can display information about an actor appearing in a movie or TV show.
Disruptel announced the agreement with TCL Electronics, based in Hong Kong, on Tuesday. TCL's new sets will incorporate features that let viewers see information related to what's on-screen and ask questions about what they're watching.
Alex Quinn, Disruptel's chief executive, said the arrangement would create the world's smartest TVs. "This marks the first time that TVs have true awareness of what's going on on their screens," he said.
Disruptel's artificial intelligence software will be able to answer questions like "Who's the actress in the red dress?" and offer e-commerce opportunities, such as a link to buy a similar dress, in real time.
Quinn said he previewed the technology at last week's CES electronics show in Las Vegas, where it generated a lot of excitement.
Shaoyang Zang, TCL's CEO, said in a statement that the technology "allows us to create groundbreaking new ways for viewers to interact with smart TVs and connected TV content."
Quinn said he said he expected the agreement to lead to hiring at Disruptel, which is based in downtown St. Louis. "We're definitely going to be ramping up the team, scaling to take advantage of this opportunity," he said.
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