- webOS update adds Microsoft Copilot automatically
- The app can’t be deleted
- People are concerned about privacy
If there’s one thing that would stop me from buying one of the best TVs in the current world of everything being online and connected, it’s the fear of the manufacturer taking a perfectly good TV and spoiling it. And that’s exactly what some LG owners think is happening to their TVs in the latest update.
The conversation is happening on social media including Reddit’s r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, where users are discussing an LG firmware update that automatically adds an unwelcome app: Microsoft Copilot. And to make things worse, once the app is on your TV, you can’t remove it.
This is proving roughly as popular as the time when Apple forced a U2 album into everybody’s iTunes library. Whether it was a good album or a bad album* didn’t matter. The issue was that Apple forced an album on millions of people and initially didn’t give them any way to remove it again. It’s widely regarded as one of the biggest PR disasters in music.
It seems that if what LG is doing to its TVs were a U2 song, it’d be Bad. So what’s going on?
Why aren’t LG owners happy about this webOS update?
Smart TV manufacturers’ goal of monetizing TVs they’ve already sold you is one of the less welcome trends of the last few years.
We’ve been reporting on TV firms using updates to implement unpopular changes for some time now, such as when LG added screensaver ads in 2024, when Roku tested an ad that ran before the Home Screen appeared or when Google revamped Google TV with much larger advertisements.
The addition of unremovable Copilot seems like a further step in a bad direction. This is more significant than adding a bit of advertising. This is adding an AI app, and that raises concerns about privacy and whether it’s getting any of your information.
As Reddit user defjam16 put it: “I always hated bloatware, but installing an AI assistant (without explicit permission) that cannot be deleted, with unknown access to microphone and other services might just take the cake.”
ASouthernDandy certainly isn’t a fan – “Pre-installed crap is universally dogshit. If I wanted it, I’d have installed it myself eventually. The whole reason it’s bundled is because no one would choose it.” – although their solution, “burn your television”, isn’t one I’d recommend, for both financial and environmental reasons.
But the many comparisons to the bloatware that infests PCs and many phones too seem fair to me.
Satan-o-saurus says: “tech companies have taught me to principally never install or opt in for any new features they try to make me use, ever. It’s literally always a scam/something that will make my user experience worse/something that is designed to just harvest my data or otherwise exploit me.”
We’ve contacted LG for comment and will keep you posted.
* It’s okay, but it’s no Achtung Baby.
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