It’s wild just how much they’re trying to shove AI down our throats.
LG’s recent software update has forcibly installed Microsoft Copilot, an AI assistant, on smart TVs without removal options, sparking widespread user backlash over privacy, bloatware, and loss of control. This highlights growing tensions in smart devices, where monetization often overrides user preferences.
Sure is ironic that the article summary is itself AI-generated.
Never connect your TV to your wireless and wired internet, even on initial purchase. Use a USB when updating your TV.
and why would that be any different? do they offer special usb-stick no-malware upgrade or what?
Well LG did me a favor. Don’t buy LG tvs, Samsung appliances or HP printers.
Don’t buy LG anything. Everything I’ve bought from them has suckes
Their washing machines are good
I’ve had good luck with their mid-high end kitchen appliances and washer/dryer.
Not impressed with the TV and the AI update made the UI very slow and unresponsive. Next one will not be LG.
We have had great luck with our LG microwave. It’s well over ten years old and the one issue we’ve had was caused by user error. Our two year old LG tv is meh. The backlighting is uneven; our much older Samsung looks much better.
No factory reset?
FYI, it won’t let you delete Alexa either. I hate that fucking thing.
And they still haven’t figured out how to stop Netflix from crashing 15 minutes into every other show I watch. First year I had it no problems. Then one day about two years ago, bam, unwatchable.
This is worse than anything Microsoft has done, I hope it leads to their decay as a company.
I hate when companies do nonsense like this.
clankers should be segregated from society. oh and to the hexbear people: “clanker” is technically NOT a slur. seriously!
what?
You said something about clankers in your post. It reminded me of something they’d refer to battle droids as in star wars the clone wars. That is Captain Rex, one of the main characters
“clankers” is a term that’s being used for ai bots in a pseudo-negative way, i think
Pi-hole
So glad I blocked my LG C1 from the internet ages ago. Haven’t received updates in forever, don’t care. It’s a TV, it shows pictures. I even still have it LAN enabled so it can be controlled via Home Assistant automations, it just can never leave the home network, and that’s how I like it.
I can’t even remember how long ago I set it up to do this, I think it was when I heard rumor they’d be including ads in the UI, maybe 2023 or so.
That’s interesting - I have a C1 (2021). Where or how do you block these updates and have it connected to your local network?
It’s blocked at my router. I’ve had two routers the past few years, an ASUS AX5700 (RT-AX86u) and a NETGEAR AXE7800 (RAXE300). Both allow for blocking a device from internet without blocking LAN access. So you give it an IP on your network, and then just block it from internet. I use the Netgear currently and have the ASUS as a backup device.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve read that some TVs will scan and seek to connect to open networks if it’s not connected at all, so I figure that way it’s totally blocked, and I still have access to its APIs for Home Assistant and Homekit use.
You’d need to set up a firewall rule on your router to block that device from accessing the internet. If you’ve got a fancy enough router you could set up a VLAN and second SSID for all your IoT things and only whitelist connections and devices you want to allow. That can get a little tricky to set up though
I think they want to replace conventional ui with a universal machine equivalent of a talking head. It could save billions on ui development. If only we would shut up and just swallow it.
I dunno. This doesn’t seem anything at all like Max Headroom.
What’s wrong with not having a TV? I feel like a weirdo for even asking, but honest question. I had a black and white TV that got three channels in 2001, but haven’t had it or any other TV since then. I just watch Netflix on my phone.
The only place where the AI push is annoying me so far is fb msngr adding a screen-space hog of “use meta to summarize 12 unread messages” when I’ve already read them three times and the messages are shorter than a summary would be 😂
Nothing wrong with it tbh. If your phone is big enough for ya that’s fine.
If you ever did get a tv get something like a roku to use for netflix.
Easy way to never get this. Don’t connect the tv to internet. Literally get an Apple TV or fire stick or something else as a media player.
if you get one of those you end up in the same place with more steps… you need to hook up a pc (any format), preferably running Linux, so you have full control
Amd streamers dont give hd on desktop devices.
So if we go this route we need to bring our sea legs.
I assumed we are all fellow waterdogs
This shit is why more people now have dabbled in DNS blocking and vlans. Its “your” equipment but you need to literally treat it as hostile.
The controversy centers on a Reddit post in the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, where a user lamented the unexpected addition of Copilot following an automatic update. The post, which garnered thousands of upvotes and comments, describes the AI tool appearing as a non-deletable app on the TV’s interface.
“Widespread backlash” 🙄
I thought “Widespread backlash” was the position Microsoft wants all its customers in ✋️🍑🤚
Honestly, though this is the definition of “widespread backlash” when it comes to red pilled garbage. So I’ll take it.
AI generated summary for sure
