Someone had AI clean up their Samsung TV by letting it watch through a phone camera

A Reddit user asked Claude, an AI assistant, to remove ads and clutter from what they thought was an Android TV. It was actually a Samsung TV running Tizen, a locked-down system. Claude got around the problem by watching the TV through the user's phone camera. XDA reported the story.

What happened

The user, posting as 0xVic on the ClaudeAI subreddit, was inspired by a trend of people using AI to strip bloat from smart TVs. Their prompt asked for reversible changes, a backup first, and a restore script. The method it named, ADB, does not work on Tizen.

Claude could not see the TV screen, so it built a small site on a local server. The site got permission to use the phone camera. It then took a photo of the TV every four seconds to check its own progress. It even Rickrolled itself a few times by accident.

The cost and the result

• About 11 hours of work
• Two 5-hour session limits used up
• 30% of a Claude Max plan, which costs $100 a month
• An Apple TV-style home screen, hidden unused apps and an erased Samsung advertising ID

This is one person's account. The material does not say whether the restore script was tested, whether the changes last, or whether the same method works on other Samsung TVs. It does show that an AI tool can work around a locked device, but it needs your time, your plan limits and access to your phone camera.