Smarter TV Timer Automation: Using AI to Detect Kids Content in Home Assistant

In my recent talk with Lukas from Hobbyblogging, we talked about our favorite automations and stumbled upon a fun challenge in my setup: the TV timer automation I use when the kids are watching.

Until now, the logic was pretty simple. If someone is watching before 8 PM, it’s probably the kids. After 8 PM, it’s probably us adults. As you can imagine, that’s not always accurate — kids watch later on weekends, and sometimes we watch earlier. Time-based guessing only gets you so far.

Lukas came up with a clever idea: use AI classification on the currently playing content. Instead of checking the clock, why not take the media artist and media title from the Apple TV and run it through an AI classifier to determine whether it’s kids content or not?

That’s exactly what I built — and in this video, I walk you through how it works:

• Extracting metadata from the Apple TV
• Sending it to an AI classifier
• Using the result inside a Home Assistant automation
• Making the TV timer far smarter without adding complexity

Here’s the full video:

If you’re looking for a clean, practical example of how to bring AI into your Home Assistant automations, this one is definitely worth checking out.