Hacker reverse engineers his Samsung TV and finds on-device AI listening for your dog and baby, watching what you watch, and borrowing your soundbar's mic if the TV doesn't have one. Then OpenAI banned him for reverse-engineering it.
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Time to build your rigs
Notably, even if you get a TV with smart features, there should be zero need to connect it to the internet. Just use it as a TV. Don't buy any TV that violates that idea. I haven't checked, but I'm guessing some shitty smart TV that refuses to work without a connection exists.
You can also build your own media center. It's one of the more common things to build for yourself. That way, you can at least choose what sort of digital footprint you leave, instead of having everything you do stolen immediately by a smart appliance.