alt Hacker NewsMicrosoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted
Comments
Surely if Copilot was so useful and great, it wouldn't be free and they wouldn't be trying to force it down unwilling people's throats at every opportunity.
I'm beginning to think this AI stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be...
I wonder if it is possible to install a standard Linux distro on LG TVs. There is KDE Plasma Bigscreen for a TV-like experience on such distros.
If not, there are some webOS exploits on this wiki page:
https://wiki.debian.org/Exploits
Hopefully the Vizio lawsuit will mean the right to repair software comes to TVs more easily.
Of course it can't be deleted.
They need to force induce AI demand to pump up the dashboards for shareholders. Thus they are converting every possible input line in the world into AI inputs. Do you think they redesigned Windows Run dialog[1] out of the blue just for fun?
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1pe93r2/after_30...
For similar reasons many years back when I broke the bank for a G2, I decided to disconnect it forever. Besides the always-on spyware, every update broke something, which is incredibly frustrating considering the amount I spent. For instance, I got a GX soundbar for free with the TV which worked fine for 1–2 months until some update borked it and made it glitch out randomly. To date, none of their updates seem to have fixed it. I now only connect it back to the web — if needed — once a year or so but even this needs plenty of careful research across the web to see if the update package breaks something else I take for granted.
Hooking up an Apple TV 4K to this thing was the best decision I ever made and the sheer performance of this thing puts every TV vendor to shame. I would recommend everyone to do the same if they're already in the Apple ecosystem.
Makes me more and more glad that I never let my TV on any network and only use it as a display for Apple TV, the Blu-Ray player, and playing media from USB drives...
> Additionally, LG has a setting called "Live Plus" that Reddit users highlighted. When it's turned on, the TV can recognize what's displayed on screen and use that viewing information for personalized recommendations and ads. LG describes it as an "enhanced viewing experience,"
Ah. So it's not "AI." It's an "opportunity to spy on every single thing you do."
I've had an LG tv for a couple years. I was previously able to use LG's THINQ app on my phone like a remote to operate the tv. A couple days ago I went in the app to use the remote and the feature had been totally locked behind the "access local networks & devices" permission... This permission was never needed in the past 3 years yet now it's necessary for the same functionality.
So, I disconnected the TV from the internet, uninstalled the app, and bought an Apple TV 3rd gen. LG TV quality is great but their software is unbearable.
Put your "smart" TV behind a Linux HTPC or a free/libre Android ROM and never, ever allow it to communicate over the Internet.
You can get a 55" Dell monitor for ~$1300. Maybe its time to just buy monitors with surround sound systems/soundbars.
I'd pay triple for an LG "dumb" TV. This is outrageous.
Huge shame. I have an LG running WebOS that I bought in 2012 and is still going strong and receiving updates (well, it received one last year, but not this one).
I was always impressed with how unshittified it was, and knew that when I got another TV it would be a WebOS LG.
Now this :(
Is it always listening? If not now, can it be changed to always be listening by a remote update? Can that update be selectively sent to certain users? Who controls which users?
It sees you when you're sleeping.
It knows when you're awake.
It knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake.
Old Microsoft learned from the Clippy debacle, and more recently from the Windows 8.1 modern UI debacle. I'm not sure new Microsoft will learn this time...
As a reminder if you own an LG TV, turn off the sneakily named "Live Plus" thing. This "option" makes your LG TV spy on you, tracking and reporting what you watch based on the image that is shown on the TV.
You need to go to Settings -> All Settings -> General -> System -> Additional Settings to make sure the "Live Plus" option is OFF.
Check it periodically, as it sometimes turns itself back on again after updates.
The enshittification of our world is beyond words.
I don’t think Microsoft realizes that this is not a positive for their brand.
My decision never to buy a smart TV just keeps paying off.
What a shame, they run webOS is which is really interesting on these, though LG continues to implement the most anti consumer things they can think of.
I have an LG TV purchased about 3 years ago. It had a bunch of "AI" features from day one, but mostly related to improving the picture quality dynamically based on what's on the screen. I disabled all of that stuff, so I guess I'll be disabling this too.
The LG software is horrible on this TV. Great picture quality, but I would never recommend an LG TV just because of the software.
The worm propagates without human interaction.
I only wish my systems to defecate its corpse soon.
I am still using my ancient Pioneer plasma and dreading the day it dies.
Any recommendations for a ≈42 inch dumb screen replacement for when that day arrives?
Oh this is perfect, one less vendor to ever consider.
Google Meet comes by default on some Samsung TV, cannot be deleted, or disabled, and neither can the microphone permission be remove from it.
Smart TVs, more like Spy TVs today.
Why? If they want to even embed copilot, they could have atleast been strategic about it!! Copilot has this image that has something to do with coding, average person doesn’t care be bit about it and see ut as an invasive pest
It could be worse. You could have Alexa on your Samsung OLED TV that triggers in response to something random you say while watching your TV then self-cancels but leaves the TV in a no-audio state until you power-cycle it (standby to live will not suffice).
I would pay money to be spare from all that product market manager hysteria..
Never connect a smart TV to the internet. That's how they get you.
Does LG have a customer feedback page or anything similar?
So what does it do? In the discussion yesterday no one covered that.
From what this article says it is an app (which fits with how it is displayed in the screenshot), which suggests you would need to choose to open it to actually have it do anything.
I can't wait for my refrigerator to come preinstalled with chatgpt. Imagine all the possibilities!
Smart TVs are maybe the dumbest product innovation of my lifetime. Ruining a perfectly good appliance with the addition of software. In 2025 it's literally a luxury experience to deal with computer bs less.
And this is exactly why I never connect my TV to wifi
The customer era is over when advertisers are paying more than customers. The advertiser era is over when any corporation wants to buy AI trained on each customer like a harness on each horse.
FFS. When I bought LG OLED TV, it was quite snappy. A year later, it asked to update webOS. OK. Now we are crawling through molasses...
All TV software seems appears to be an absolute fucking scam.
This is clippy’s revenge on the world.
My TV only gets internet access when there is a firmware update I care about
Small data point: I brought a Sony Android TV in 2023 which doesn't have any of the annoyances I keep reading about here. Made in Japan for the Japanese market, haven't seen a single ad and it predates my use of AdGuard DNS. Whether this is a regional or Sony thing I'm not sure.
I have an OLED from them that’s 5 years old or so now, I have never once updated it or used any of the software beyond switching inputs and screen/color settings. It’s sad if it sounds like it’s getting to the point where you can’t just use a screen as a dumb screen as an option, I never minded smart features… as long as I never had to use them.
omg... THEY really want to push those AI AGENTS down our throats... Freaking weirdos. FUCK MICROSOFT.
[dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255335
Tell you everything about how MS co-pilot is useful.
Mr Anderson…
I recently bought a $250 Zojurishi rice cooker because I wanted quality, durability and no "trade offs" I am going to start buying more and more Japanese electronics if US and South Korean companies keep colluding with each other in inserting garbage.
Samsung is already preloading intelligence service software and "365 copilot" into their phones to trick old people into paying for a subscription to open a PDF (it sets itself as a default app).
At this point it's a war against the consumer.
And it's not just this, they are slowly phasing out consumer hardware (GPU price increase, RAM, non NVME SSDs, etc.) in an effort to make hardware ownership impossible thus creating a "Market" for the post bubble burst of AI where they will be renting out PC hardware (all these datacenters that they are building which will be useless).
This is US led and also conveniently both the US and South Korea are involved, as they shut down China (both GPUs and RAM manufacturers in China were blacklisted).
It's not a coincidence, I Imagine the threats of potential tariffs if they do not comply does not help with their "independent thinking".
Sadly, the only thing that AI really excels at is: AI spyware + AI slop generator (ads).
Can Microsoft stop raping users by forcing itself upon us at every single turn with these AI products?
I'm getting sick of feeling so slimy and used.
Thank god, the sooner we start to appreciate the wide spread adoption of AI the sooner we can start being more productive.
A TV is the perfect place to introduce AI in terms of giving me content I should actually enjoy, and answering any questions I may have about what I'm watching. Kudos to LG for being the first.
My rule for modern TVs:
1. Never connect the TV panel itself to the internet. Keep it air-gapped. Treat it solely as a dumb monitor.
2. Use an Apple TV for the "smart" features.
3. Avoid Fire TV, Chromecast, or Roku.
The logic is simple, Google (Chromecast) and Amazon (Fire TV) operate on the same business model as the TV manufacturers subsidized hardware in exchange for user data and ad inventory. Apple is the only mainstream option where the hardware cost covers the experience, rather than your viewing habits subsidizing the device.