AI Meets Nostalgia: Retrofitting a CRT TV with a Smart Personal Assistant
The story of ORI CUSTOMS and the future of AI-powered retro tech.
Introduction
In early 2024, I started to notice a shift in the online AI community. Despite concerns from AI safety advocates about security risks and misinformation, open-source models were being released into the wild, free for anyone to download, build, and experiment with. These models spread quickly, but have only recently gained more mainstream attention, largely due to the commotion surrounding Deepseek’s R1 reasoning model.
Today, excitement around open-source AI is exploding. But what are the real-world benefits? Why go through the hassle of setting up an open-source model when OpenAI’s ChatGPT is affordable and available on demand? For starters, open models allow for private, customized applications, making them especially useful for handling sensitive data like business records or personal health information. But these practical use cases only scratch the surface. Social media has made it easy to watch open-source AI evolve in real time as people tinker, experiment, and push the boundaries of what’s possible.
An early experiment that caught my eye involved running Llama, Meta’s AI model, on a Raspberry Pi, a tiny, low-powered computer. Soon after, I saw people attempting and sometimes succeeding to run similar models on everything from old cell phones to calculators. That felt profound. AI wasn’t just getting smarter. It was getting smaller, more accessible, and harder to contain. It was now possible to fit vast amounts of human knowledge onto something as small as a thumb drive.
That realization sparked my curiosity and inspired me to dive in and experiment for myself.
Introducing ORI CUSTOMS
ORI CUSTOMS is an Etsy shop that breathes new life into vintage devices by retrofitting them with frontier AI technology. Each device is custom-built and infused with intelligence tailored to your goals, interests, and desires. From device selection to AI personality, content, and functionality, every detail can be customized. The result is a truly unique product, whether it serves as a personal assistant, a conversation piece for your home, or a standout feature in a retail space.
The first product is a proof of concept: an AI-enhanced Panasonic 9” CRT Television (PV-C920) that seamlessly blends nostalgia and innovation. This retro-futuristic device offers personalized streaming, gaming, and more, all within a made-to-order, AI-powered package. It’s designed for those who want to immerse themselves in a multimedia experience that fuses the past, present, and future.
Key Features:
Media Versatility – Access standard TV features like VHS and FM radio, along with online streaming and interactive AI content.
Seamless Control – Easily navigate the ORI terminal and operating system using the included Logitech K400 Plus wireless keyboard with a built-in touchpad.
Works Offline – All TV functions and AI features can be run 100 percent offline, providing enhanced security and privacy.
Every ORI device comes with a fully customizable AI personality, designed to match your unique style and needs. In this case, ORI functions as a helpful personal assistant, capable of answering questions, providing recommendations, and assisting with productivity, all housed within a retro television. Interacting with ORI in this setting creates a surreal and thought-provoking experience.
But ORI is more than just an assistant. Hidden within its responses is a deeper backstory. As users engage, they will uncover cryptic messages and a dynamically evolving narrative, revealing layers of mystery and meaning.
How It Works: AI-Retrofitting a CRT TV
Creating the proof of concept and achieving a fully integrated experience required both hardware modifications and software customization. The first step was acquiring the television, which was by far the easiest part. I was able to search eBay for the exact model, condition, and features I wanted. Since I had always liked the idea of a small CRT with a built-in VHS player, I decided to go with that. I’m sure there are more exciting finds just waiting to be discovered in Los Angeles thrift stores and antique markets, and I plan to explore them for a future ORI release.
To retrofit the TV, I used a Raspberry Pi 5 with enough memory to support more compact LLMs. Once it was set up, I installed Ollama, the de facto tool for downloading and running open-source models on personal devices. Next, I had to choose a model that was small enough to run on the Pi while balancing speed, intelligence, and efficiency.
Smaller models tend to hallucinate more frequently, so finding one that was both compact and reliable was key. At the time, I went with Microsoft’s Phi, which worked well for my initial prototype. Since then, models like Mistral, Gemma, and Qwen have gained traction, offering improvements in efficiency and reasoning. I hope to experiment with these newer models to compare their performance and explore how they might enhance the ORI experience.
Standard out-of-the-box LLMs tend to behave generically, so my next step was determining whether I could modify the model. Initially, I assumed this would require complex and time-consuming methods like fine-tuning, but I found a much simpler alternative. By editing the modelfile system message within Ollama, I was able to shape the model’s behavior in a meaningful way. While not a perfect solution, it worked well for the proof of concept, adding depth and personality to interactions.
For example, I could prompt the AI to act like a specific character, speak in a particular tone, or respond in ways that reinforced its backstory. With ORI, I not only gave it a distinct personality but also embedded hidden knowledge that would only surface after a certain number of interactions. This approach helped define ORI’s behavior and created a more immersive experience for users to explore.
The final step was integrating the Raspberry Pi with the television’s older hardware. Since CRT TVs rely on outdated inputs, I used an HDMI-to-RCA converter to bridge the connection. Once that was working, I optimized the display by adjusting the screen resolution to fit the CRT and configuring the Pi to boot directly into the terminal instead of the graphical user interface. Even small adjustments, like increasing the terminal font size, significantly improved readability on the small screen. These refinements streamlined the experience and made the AI feel like a natural part of the device rather than an add-on.
Design & Aesthetic Inspiration
Beyond technical experimentation, ORI CUSTOMS was built on a larger vision, one where both the Etsy shop and the ORI assistant feel like natural extensions of our world. Inspired by the layered futurism of Cyberpunk 2077, Her, and Stray, I wanted to explore how idealized visions of technology collide with the grit of everyday life. With the rise of local LLMs, this wasn’t just a thought experiment; it was a way to show that the future we imagined is already here.
To bring this vision to life, I needed a brand that felt both forward-thinking and grounded. I looked first to AI startups like Perplexity, Rabbit, and Anterior, which balance sleek optimism with human-centered design. At the same time, I was drawn to the gritty, maker-focused aesthetic of lifestyle brands like Deus Ex Machina, Shanghai Customs, and Buck Mason, companies that celebrate craftsmanship and style.
This mix of influences reflects a familiar tension within retrofuturism, one I have encountered in past projects. I could have framed ORI as a lost artifact from a parallel timeline, where CRTs remain cutting-edge and LLMs exist in an alternate history. Instead, I chose to position it in the present, where nostalgia meets modern AI in a way that feels both surreal and tangible. The result is a lived-in futurism, something handcrafted and functional yet still pushing the boundaries of what AI can be. Listing it on Etsy extends this further, turning ORI CUSTOMS into both a conceptual experiment and a real, working shop.
The Response So Far
Setting up shop on Etsy was part of the sci-fi meets maker culture vision, but it also turned out to be an effective way to get the idea in front of people. One of the main reasons sellers choose Etsy over other e-commerce platforms is its built-in marketing support, which increases exposure in exchange for a percentage of sales. By listing ORI here, I was able to test demand, gauge initial reactions, and start building visibility.
In the first few months, Etsy’s organic discovery algorithms and built-in distribution drove steady engagement and a surprisingly strong response.
At the time of writing, the listing has already reached:
13,500+ total views
10,000+ visits
350+ item favorites
30+ shop follows
While sales are typically the most important metric of success, this was a proof of concept, and my goal was to share the idea and gauge interest rather than fulfill orders. With this in mind, I intentionally set a high price and a $500 shipping cost to discourage impulse purchases while testing demand. Instead, I positioned it as a display product, encouraging interested buyers to reach out for custom requests and personalized estimates.
The high shipping cost did lower ORI’s visibility in search rankings, but that made the engagement metrics even more impressive. Some of this interest translated into direct outreach, as I received several messages from buyers exploring a range of use cases, including retail installations, tabletop gaming, and personal AI assistants.
Where is all this traffic coming from?
According to Etsy’s built-in analytics:
45% of visitors discovered the listing through Etsy, via search, the app, or on-platform marketing.
55% of visitors arrived via direct traffic and social media, primarily Facebook and Instagram.
A small portion of this traffic came from a $12 paid promotion experiment I ran in January 2025, which generated 2,316 views and 115 clicks. With a CPM of $5.27, CPC of $0.11, and a CTR of 4.96%, the results were exceptionally strong for Etsy ads. While sales are the ultimate measure of success, these results confirm that the product and positioning resonate.
As for organic social media traffic, I am still trying to determine which specific posts are driving it, but so far, I have not found a way to track them.
Lessons Learned
Quite a few. What I loved about this project was how it allowed me to combine a variety of personal interests, from branding and e-commerce to retro design and AI, all into a single, tangible end product. By diving in and experimenting, I learned faster and uncovered possibilities I would not have considered otherwise. Some of these will undoubtedly be useful for future projects, both personal and professional.
The biggest realization, the overarching theme I keep coming back to, is AI’s potential as a creative enabler. Much of the conversation around AI focuses on automation and efficiency. It can augment, enhance, and accelerate our abilities as creative people. But there is much more to explore. Creativity happens when previously disconnected ideas, people, processes, and technologies collide. How can AI be used to create unexpected combinations that result in something extraordinary?
Lastly, you can just make things. I now have my own personal ORI assistant, packed with a vast amount of human knowledge, running 100 percent offline. You know, just in case we ever experience a complete Internet blackout. Hopefully not.
What’s Next?
As mentioned earlier, the initial response to ORI CUSTOMS was strong, suggesting a genuine interest in AI-enhanced retro tech. Finding a way to make it more accessible through lower-cost builds or DIY kits with cheaper shipping could make it a more viable, scalable business. Depending on the ongoing response, both to the shop and this post, I may explore some of these directions.
In the meantime, given the shop's current economics, I will be focusing on other projects and priorities. The Etsy shop will remain live, and I will likely tinker with ORI here and there, but it will stay a hobby project rather than a full-fledged entrepreneurial endeavor. Maybe I’ll come across a gem of a retro TV and create a companion for ORI. Who knows what might happen?
To wrap things up, thanks for reading this far! If you want to share any ideas or have questions about my process, feel free to reach out directly. And if you’re interested in a custom AI-retrofitted device, you know where to find me.