(Image credit: Microsoft)

LG smart TV owners are reporting that a recent webOS software update has added Microsoft Copilot to their TVs, with no apparent way to remove it. Reports first surfaced over the weekend on Reddit, where a post showing a Copilot tile pinned to an LG TV home screen climbed to more than 35,000 upvotes on r/mildlyinfuriating, accompanied by hundreds of comments from users describing the same behavior.

According to affected users, Copilot appears automatically after installing the latest webOS update on certain LG TV models. The feature shows up on the home screen alongside streaming apps, but unlike Netflix or YouTube, it cannot be uninstalled.

My LG TV’s new software update installed Microsoft Copilot, which cannot be deleted. from r/mildlyinfuriating

LG has previously confirmed plans to integrate Microsoft Copilot into webOS as part of its broader “AI TV” strategy. At CES 2025, the company described Copilot as an extension of its AI Search experience, designed to answer questions and provide recommendations using Microsoft’s AI services. In practice, the iteration of Copilot currently seen on LG TVs appears to function as a shortcut to a web-based Copilot interface rather than a fully native application like the one described by LG.

The issue, for many, isn’t necessarily what Copilot does, but that it has been forced onto consumers with no option to remove it. LG’s own support documentation notes that certain preinstalled or system apps cannot be deleted, only hidden. Users who encounter Copilot after the update report that this limitation applies, leaving them with no way to fully remove the feature once it has been added. It’s a similar story on rival models, for instance some Samsung TV’s include Gemini.

The overwhelmingly negative reaction from users indicates a growing frustration with AI features being imposed on consumers in every way possible. Smart TVs have naturally become platforms for advertising, data collection, and now AI services, with updates adding new functionality that owners did not explicitly request and, in most cases, do not want. While LG allows users to disable some AI-related options, such as voice recognition and personalization features, those settings do not remove the Copilot app itself.

Ultimately, those wanting to minimize Copilot’s presence on their TVs are limited to keeping it disconnected from the Internet. That’s about the most that can be done at the moment, unless LG backtracks and either allows users to disable or completely uninstall the app in response to backlash, which seems unlikely.

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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.