"Reverse Engineer Anything": AI cracks open smart TVs, apps and IoT devices

What's going on

According to 404 Media, using AI agents for "reverse engineering" became a trend last weekend. That means analyzing existing software or devices without having the source code, then recreating or replacing their features. Smart TVs get new, leaner interfaces without ads and bloatware (unwanted preinstalled software). Abandoned Internet of Things devices (connected everyday gadgets) are revived with new software. 404 Media describes this as "vibe coding", meaning programming by giving instructions to an AI. The difference is that nothing is built from scratch: existing products are recreated.

What users are doing right now

404 Media cites several examples:

• Smart picture frames are turned into AI-powered calendars.
• Baby monitors are freed from ads.
• Discontinued Lululemon mirrors get new software.
• Dozens of TVs get AI-written software that removes bloatware and ads and simplifies the interface.

A user named Gathin wrote on X that an ad had appeared in front of Netflix on his parents' TV. He gave Claude Code the model number. The AI found the TV on the Wi-Fi, removed 25 Xiaomi packages and wrote a new launcher, the home screen. The result looks "like an Apple TV", he said. According to the report, the post reportedly got over 6 million views.

The "Reverse Engineer Anything" project

One of the most viral GitHub repositories in recent memory is called "Reverse Engineer Anything" (REA). At the time of the article, it had over 342,000 stars. The project description says, roughly: if you see a feature in an app that you want in your own product, you have your agent study it with REA. The agent can inspect the app without source code, explain the feature, show evidence and build a version for your own project.

According to 404 Media, the same principle has recently made AI-driven clones of Adobe's Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office possible. Hundreds of video games have also been "decompiled". Decompiling means reconstructing readable source code from finished program code. The idea isn't new. Communities have long used manual work and open-source tools to repair discontinued devices or find vulnerabilities to modify them. What's new is that AI agents make it easier and faster.

A supposed guitar-pedal maker wrote on Hacker News that he "decompiled" the effect algorithms of three competitors in 72 hours using AI. That's an unverified claim.

Case study: a Samsung TV and a phone camera

XDA Developers reports on a Reddit user (0xVic) who was inspired by the wave. He asked Claude to clean up his supposedly Android TV via ADB (Android Debug Bridge, a developer interface). The brief was:

• Disable ads and telemetry reversibly, uninstall nothing.
• Make backups first.
• Build an Apple TV-style home screen.
• Check every step with a screenshot.
• Provide a restore script.

But the TV was a Samsung running Tizen OS, which is heavily locked down and doesn't use ADB. Claude therefore couldn't see the screen. So the AI built a small web page on a local server that got access to the phone camera. Every four seconds it took a photo of the TV to check its progress. In the process, it accidentally triggered videos like "Keyboard Cat" several times.

After about 11 hours, two maxed-out 5-hour limits and roughly 30% of a Claude Max 100 plan ($100 a month), there was an Apple TV-style home screen. Claude had also deleted the Samsung advertising ID and hidden unused apps.

Risks and expert views

Mike Nolan, who researches open-source software policy, says software developers see software-as-a-service dying as a business model because features are so easy to rebuild. He adds a caveat: maintenance is costly, and cloned software may not be reliable enough. He doesn't know how many companies would actually use such clones.

404 Media warns of several consequences:

• AI clones often have bugs that the user doesn't understand or can't fix. Many people deploy or publish them anyway.
• Badly written, insecure software could end up on critical hardware. That could lead to hacked devices and networks.
• Attackers could slip malware into widely shared AI-generated code.
• Reverse-engineering communities and open-source projects could be flooded with AI contributions.
• Small software and hardware companies could be squeezed out by competitors who copy their products with AI and undercut them.

There's an upside too: users are taking back control of devices where manufacturers locked features, built in ads and surveillance, or bricked them with shutdowns.

According to the article, the "decompilations" also drew criticism. The resulting code is often not identical to the original and has bugs.

Are AI providers blocking this?

A Reddit post on r/LocalLLaMA claims Claude blocked REA a day later. An Italian site headlines that Claude Opus 5.5 blocks smart-TV reverse engineering, according to user reports. The sources give no details. These are user reports with no confirmation from the providers. The Reddit post concludes that you're better off relying on local models with open weights.

Our take

The story shows what autonomous AI agents can do today: they find devices on the network, write software and check their own work. For users, that can mean an end to ads and being nannied by manufacturers. The sources don't cover the legal situation (copyright, warranty, manufacturer terms). The Samsung case also shows the effort involved: 11 hours and a sizable chunk of a paid quota. If you try something like this, make backups. That goes double because AI-generated code can contain bugs and security holes. Whether providers actually block such uses is unproven.