用 AI 為電視「氛圍編碼」是愚蠢之舉

Recently, some posts on X/Twitter and discussed elsewhere have claimed that AI has helped people “vibe code” their way to a better TV interface. Less clutter, no ads, less tracking and more are all ascribed to AI’s magical powers. Not only is this nonsense, but it’s also stupid. 

First, let me say up front that I understand the frustration. TV interfaces have gotten bloated; they often have ads, and their creepy and invasive tracking properties have long been discussed and warned about by me and others. 

That said, AI is not doing anything unique here. Not only can you do this without AI, but it’s also probably better if you don’t. Using AI risks potentially TV-ruining issues or worse.

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What’s happening

“Vibe coding” is the colloquial term for using AI to assist or fully write programming code for apps, websites and so on. Instead of learning a programming language, people tell AI agents in plain English (or their language of choice) what they want, and the AI does it, or at least something close to it. 

In this case, people are claiming they’re using an AI agent, usually Claude, to write a new operating system for TVs. This “new” OS is, they claim, faster, easier to use, has no ads and so on.

Why it’s a bad idea 

As with all claims about AI, you should be suspicious. First, TV operating systems are far more complex than they appear. Messing around “under the hood,” especially with no programming knowledge, can easily cause serious problems.

One TV engineer I spoke to for this article, who asked to remain anonymous, literally laughed out loud when I asked him about this. He explained that his engineers will often fix one bug in their software, and it will cause 10 other bugs in random, seemingly unrelated parts of the TV. That’s pretty typical with software development, by the way. There are reports already that people have “bricked” their TVs trying this. As in, they turned their TV into an expensive and unusable brick.

There are also a lot of potential issues down the road, even if you have initial success. For instance, will the new vibe-coded OS actually run Netflix and other apps? They might seem to load and then not be able to play anything. What happens if one of the apps needs an update? Will you still be able to? What if that update requires a specific Android version? Maybe you won’t have any issues, but there’s no guarantee of that, and if you don’t have any background in software or coding, can you be sure that more AI vibe coding will fix the issue? Will you be able to perform a factory reset and restore it to the way it was when you bought it? Hopefully yes, but not necessarily.

If you’re not a programmer, how sure are you that the code you’re using is secure? How sure are you that it’s only doing what you want and not exposing your TV to external access? This isn’t as likely as just breaking your TV, but if you don’t know or understand what’s going on “under the hood,” can you really be sure?

And what’s the end goal here? If it’s a faster interface with fewer ads, you can do that already without AI, as I’ll discuss in the next section. If it’s to minimize tracking, maybe changing the OS or interface will help, but not entirely.

Why it’s really stupid: An easier solution already exists

AI can’t invent anything, and you can already change your TV’s interface with just an app install. Android TV launchers, as in the user interface, can be swapped out. So if your TV runs on Android, you can change the interface without any AI vibe coding. These launchers are often far simpler than the stock Google TV interface and are highly customizable. 

Projectivy Launcher

Launchers like Projectivity, Monet and TV Launcher Premium Smart UI are some of the top-rated and most popular ones. The AT4K Launcher even makes your Android TV interface look like the Apple TV interface. There are many more options.

If you have a TV with a company-specific operating system, like LG’s webOS, Samsung’s Tizen, Hisense’s VIDAA and so on, the AI vibe coding trick isn’t likely to work anyway. Companies do their best to lock down their operating systems to prevent exactly the kind of thing we’re talking about here. 

Monet Launcher

It’s entirely arguable that AI wasn’t doing anything clever in the first place. It was just regurgitating what human programmers had already figured out.

What you can do instead

I think there’s a hilarious irony in not wanting your personal data to be out there, so in order to block your TV from tracking you, you give your personal data to AI. If you don’t understand why that’s ironic, you definitely shouldn’t give your data to AI. As I’ve talked about before, there is no easy way to prevent your TV from tracking you and selling your data. You can minimize it, or go to more extreme measures like Pi-holes and not connecting it to the internet at all, but then you’ll just be switching which device is tracking you. Still want streaming? All the streaming devices track you to some extent (the Apple TV 4K less so). 

AT4K Launcher

Using AI to vibe code your way into a better TV experience, however, is a dumb idea. Try a launcher app first and see if that gets you most or all the way to what you’re looking for. Will it be a magical fix to speed up a slow TV? No, but it could be much closer to what you’re looking for, and it’s far less likely to nuke your TV. If you want to go even further, there are apps that give you even more control, but with more potential for issues. Or hey, if you have a TV you don’t mind ruining, and you want to see what you can come up with using an AI that is just stealing from other people’s work, go for it.

Geoffrey Morrison

Contributor

Geoffrey Morrison is a writer/photographer about tech and travel for CNET, The New York Times, and other web and print publications. He's also the Editor-at-Large for Wirecutter. He is the author of Budget Travel for Dummies as well as the bestselling sci-fi novels Undersea, and Undersea Atrophia. He's NIST and ISF trained, and has a degree in Audio Production from Ithaca College. He spends most of the year as a digital nomad, living and working while traveling around the world. You can follow his travels at BaldNomad.com and on his Instagram and YouTube channel. See full bio