ZDNET’s key takeaways
- New AI tools make modifying gadgets and device firmware easier.
- People use them to get more from their smartphones and smart TVs.
- Easy, useful modifications can pose security and reliability risks.
The reverse engineering of popular software, such as Adobe Premiere and PowerPoint, has become popular lately — and now, hardware is being reverse-engineered with the AI-powered Reverse Engineer Anything (REA). This open-source project has exploded by enabling hobbyists to reverse-engineer pretty much anything, such as your obsolete smartphones, smart TVs, and smart picture frames.
Even with this tool, you still need some programming chops. But here’s the important bit: Anyone can use AI agents and borrow technically skilled users’ work to easily modify their own hardware.
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The concept itself is far from new. In 2013, the alternative Android firmware CyanogenMod, which brought newer versions of Android to obsolete smartphones, enjoyed several years of popularity before dying in 2016. The project technically still lives on as the open-source project LineageOS. Other alternative Android operating systems, such as the Free Software Foundation’s (FSF) LibrePhone and /e/ OS, are alive and well.
All of those were made by expert open-source developers, while this new generation of alternative hardware firmware is largely the product of vibe coders.
This new firmware brings new tricks to old hardware. For example, it can remove smart TV advertising, replace cluttered interfaces, and restore functionality to abandoned devices. This emerging hacking movement empowers old-school device-hacking techniques with AI tools that investigate software, generate replacements, and automate changes.
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The activity has gathered attention alongside REA, an open-source project that…