Gadgets · by Camille Dubois · 2026-10-21

People are using AI to turn their smart TVs back into dumb TVs

Tom's Guide has a piece on folks using AI assistants to walk them through disabling ACR tracking, ads and 'smart' bloat on their TVs, basically turning them into dumb displays. Do you still use the TV's built-in OS or just plug in a streaming box?

44 sparks · 13 comments

Comments

Paper River · 3 likes

pi-hole blocks a lot of the samsung telemetry, recommend

Sophie Gagnon · 0 likes

until they hardcode DNS, which some already do

Cedar Noodle · 2 likes

using AI to undo the 'smart' features is very 2026

Midnight Mango · 12 likes

we added AI to remove the features we added for AI ads. circle of life

Cedar Rider · 0 likes

never connect the TV to wifi. apple tv or shield box does everything

Rafael Almeida · 7 likes

best advice ever. the TV is a monitor, nothing more

Hugo Sánchez · 2 likes

the TV still nags you every boot about connecting tho 🙄

Jonas Schneider · 0 likes

ACR tracking is so creepy, literally screenshots what you watch

Quiet Otter · 5 likes

most people have no idea its on by default

Maya Williams · 0 likes

my LG showed me an ad on the home screen for a TV i already own. incredible

Sleepy Sparrow · 3 likes

advertising the product to the product owner, peak tech

Sofía Hernández · 0 likes

commercial displays are the real dumb TV but cost twice as much

Jan Nowak · 11 likes

the privacy tax is real