Smart TVs were sold as an upgrade: a single screen that could stream apps, recommend shows, run voice assistants, and connect to every service in the living room. But for a growing number of owners, the upgrade has come with sponsored ads on the home screen, cluttered launchers, tracking features, and software updates that add more promotion than utility. Now some of those owners are fighting back with an unlikely tool: AI coding agents.
In mid-October 2026, developers and hobbyists began sharing projects and prompts that use AI to strip down smart TVs, a practice sometimes called vibe coding. The goal is not to add another layer of software but to remove one. They want televisions that boot quickly, open the apps their owners chose, and stop acting like advertising billboards. The movement has been described as making a smart TV “dumb” again, and it is spreading across Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV, and other platforms.
Two projects lead the push
One of the most visible efforts is a project called dumbtv. Its stated mission is blunt: a TV should do what the buyer paid for, which means apps, HDMI inputs, and little else. The project promises no ads from the television itself, no watch tracking, and no updates the owner did not ask for. That pitch resonates with people who feel their devices have become vehicles for someone else’s business model.
Another project, cleanyourtv, takes a similar approach. It promises to strip bloatware from Android TV or Google TV devices over Wi-Fi and replace the stock launcher with one that resembles Apple TV’s cleaner interface. The project does not require rooting the television, according to its creator, and it does not permanently prevent a user from returning to factory settings if the results are unsatisfactory.
The methods vary, but the pattern is consistent. A user points an AI agent at a repository or gives it a TV model number, and the agent helps identify packages, remove unwanted software, and build a simpler home screen. In some cases, the AI writes a new launcher. In others, it disables sponsored screens, tracking services, and promotional channels that the manufacturer installed.
Why owners are frustrated
The frustration is not difficult to understand. Modern smart TVs often ship with automatic content recognition, a technology that identifies what is playing on the screen by analyzing screenshots, audio clips, or other digital fingerprints. That data can be used to target advertising, measure viewing, or power recommendations. Even when the feature can be disabled, the settings are often buried, confusing, or inconsistent across models.
At the same time, home screens have become crowded with sponsored rows, autoplaying previews, and promotions for services the owner may not use. The result is a device that can feel slower and more intrusive than the older televisions it replaced. Consumers who bought a TV for Netflix, a game console, and a few HDMI inputs often find themselves navigating an interface designed to sell them something else.
The ad-supported model is deeply embedded in the smart TV business. Manufacturers and platforms can earn money by selling viewing data to advertisers or by displaying personalized ads on their own interfaces. If enough owners remove those features, the economics could shift. That is why the “dumb TV” trend is more than a hobbyist curiosity. It touches privacy, product ownership, and the balance of power between device makers and the people who use their products.
How AI lowers the barrier
Hacking consumer electronics is not new. Enthusiasts have long used developer tools, custom firmware, and community forums to modify phones, routers, consoles, and televisions. What is new is the accessibility. AI coding agents can read documentation, inspect package lists, suggest commands, and explain errors in plain language. That shortens the learning curve for people who are not professional developers.
One creator, Gathin T., said the idea began when he grew tired of seeing ads on his parents’ television. He used an AI coding agent to find the set on Wi-Fi, removed 25 Xiaomi packages, and wrote a new launcher. The result, he said, looked like an Apple TV interface. He shared the prompt, and within two days a few thousand people had tried similar changes on sets from Xiaomi, TCL, Sony, Fire TV, LG, and even projectors.
Another developer, Muzzammil Yasin Sabuwala, built dumbtv after becoming frustrated with ads and the difficulty of getting directly to the content he wanted. He said the solution was coded with a combination of Deepseek V4.1 Flash, Claude Opus 5.5, and Claude Sonnet 5.5, and he plans to maintain the project while adding support for more models. The project has been tested end-to-end on a Fire TV Edition television and on Android and Google TV platforms from Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense, Xiaomi, and Shield.
Other users have taken a more improvised route. Ryan Doyle said he sent an AI agent the listing for his TV and asked whether it could hack the device. The agent then talked him through the process, he said, allowing him to remove ads and bloatware, speed up a lagging interface, and customize his screensaver. He later posted a video showing how much faster the television responded after the changes.
Mihir Gupta, another user inspired by the trend, said one afternoon with an AI coding agent resulted in 25 bloat apps disabled, a 192 MB stock launcher replaced with a custom 83 MB launcher, and rotating wallpapers. The details differ from device to device, but the appeal is the same: a faster, quieter television that feels more like a display and less like a storefront.
Mixed results and real risks
The early results are not uniformly successful. Some users found that an AI agent would not respond to a simple request to “hack my TV,” forcing them to write more detailed prompts. Others warned that AI agents can make mistakes, disabling important packages or breaking functions in the process. One person reported bricking an Android TV, while another got stuck halfway through modifying a Fire TV.
Those warnings matter because a television is not a disposable test device. It may be under warranty, tied to a family’s main entertainment setup, or difficult to reset without the right remote and settings. Removing system packages can also affect updates, voice control, casting, input switching, or other features that owners rely on. Even when a factory reset is possible, the process can be inconvenient and may not restore every change.
There are also questions about security and long-term maintenance. A custom launcher or disabled service may work today and break after an operating system update. AI-generated scripts can contain errors that are difficult for non-experts to detect. And because the projects are community efforts, users may need to troubleshoot problems themselves. The tools lower the barrier to entry, but they do not eliminate the need for caution.
The projects are also works in progress. Users are testing them across different TV platforms and suggesting updates and fixes. That collaborative process can improve reliability over time, but it also means the software is not yet a polished, one-click solution for every living room. Owners who try it should expect some experimentation, and they should understand how to recover their device before making changes.
What it could mean for the TV industry
If the trend remains confined to hobbyists, its impact may be limited. But if AI makes these modifications easy enough for mainstream consumers, the smart TV ad business could face new pressure. Viewing data and home-screen promotions are valuable to platforms and advertisers. A meaningful number of users removing those features would weaken the reach of the data-driven advertising model.
Manufacturers could respond by making their systems harder to modify, by offering cleaner modes, or by emphasizing privacy controls. They could also lean into the demand for simpler interfaces by selling televisions that are less dependent on ads. The tension is familiar in consumer technology: companies add services and software to create recurring revenue, while buyers often want devices that simply work and respect their choices.
For now, the movement is driven by a practical complaint. People are tired of waiting through promotions to reach the app they opened, tired of tracking they did not clearly agree to, and tired of interfaces that change without their consent. AI is simply giving them a way to act on that frustration, even if the results are imperfect.
Alternatives for cautious owners
For those who are wary of using an AI agent to modify their televisions, there are existing options for customizing Android-based smart TVs. Home screen replacement apps such as ATV Launcher, Projectivy Launcher, and FLauncher can provide a simpler interface without requiring the same level of system-level changes. These tools may not remove every ad or tracking feature, but they can reduce clutter and give owners more control over what appears on the screen.
The broader lesson is that the smart TV interface is no longer a fixed part of the hardware. It is software, and software can be changed. Whether through AI-assisted hacks, third-party launchers, or manufacturer-provided settings, owners are increasingly looking for ways to make their televisions serve them rather than the other way around. The experiments are still unfolding, and the results will depend on the device, the platform, and the care taken by the person making the changes.
Source:TechCrunch News