Situation report: Microsoft is pulling Copilot off smart TVs. Support for the AI assistant will end on every TV this year, including the LG and Samsung sets that launched with it. The Verge AI reports that the news first surfaced through Windows Central, and it didn’t come from a press release. Windows Central’s Zac Bowden saw an on-screen notice on his webOS-powered LG TV.
That’s a quiet exit for a feature that got a big launch at CES 2025.
📡 What Happened
The notice on Bowden’s LG TV reads:
“Microsoft has recently decided to end support for Copilot functionality on all TVs, including the Copilot-enabled feature available on our LG TVs. As a result, the Copilot-enabled feature on your TV is no longer available and may stop functioning shortly.”
The key facts:
- Who: Microsoft, with LG and Samsung TV owners affected.
- What: Copilot functionality ends on all smart TVs.
- When: It’s “scheduled for discontinuation during 2026.” LG says the exact date is “subject to Microsoft’s timeline.”
- How it was announced: Through an on-screen notification. As of the report, Microsoft, LG and Samsung hadn’t put out any official statement.
🧭 How We Got Here
LG and Samsung announced Copilot integration at CES 2025. The pitch was a friendly AI companion for the couch. You could chat with it, ask about what was on screen, or get show and movie recommendations.
Then things turned sour. Last December, a webOS update put a Microsoft Copilot shortcut on LG TVs that users couldn’t remove. It just opened Copilot’s web app in a browser. People were angry that it showed up without their approval, and LG eventually let them delete it.
So the feature arrived with fanfare, got pushback for being forced on people, and is now leaving through a pop-up message.
🎯 Why It Matters
What stands out here is the timing. Earlier this year, Microsoft launched a Copilot “super app” that puts chat, agents and coding in one interface. That move was part of a bigger shift: Microsoft wants Copilot to be a business and productivity tool, not a digital companion.
A chatbot on your TV that suggests what to watch doesn’t fit that strategy. It’s a consumer novelty, and Microsoft is clearly cutting things that don’t support the work-focused version of Copilot.
I think this is significant for three reasons:
- AI everywhere is getting pruned. The 2024 to 2025 rush to put an assistant on every screen and appliance is cooling off. Companies are keeping the places where people actually use AI and dropping the rest.
- Forced AI features carry a cost. The LG shortcut backlash showed that pushing AI onto devices people already own can hurt trust. That lesson goes well beyond TVs.
- Microsoft is choosing a lane. Productivity and enterprise are where the money is. The lean-back living room experience wasn’t going to pay for the compute.
⚠️ What To Expect
For TV owners: Plan for Copilot to stop working at some point in 2026. Nothing else is being taken away, and no date has been given yet. If you relied on it for recommendations, your TV’s built-in search or your streaming apps’ own suggestions will fill most of that gap.
For TV makers: LG and Samsung lose a headline AI feature they used in their marketing. Expect them to lean harder on their own in-house assistants and AI picture and sound features, which they fully control.
For the industry: Watch for other partners to quietly scale back AI integrations that aren’t paying off. When a company with Microsoft’s resources walks away from a whole device category, others will take note.
🔭 Outlook
This won’t be the last AI feature to disappear from a consumer device. As AI companies sharpen their business models, features that don’t drive subscriptions or enterprise deals will get cut. Copilot is moving from the couch to the desk.
You can find the full details at The Verge AI and in Windows Central’s original report.