You’ve probably heard of artificial intelligence (AI). But did you know that AI technology is being used in smart homes? Learn the basics of AI and some examples already in use.
What is AI?
AI happens when technology tries to think like humans. It tries to perceive, reason, and learn much like how the human mind does those things.
AI can compose music, create music, and even try to understand our emotions.
But how do we do this? There are many reasons why AI is called “artificial.” It may not be as impressive as you think. It just regurgitates what humans have already made.
AI can access vast amounts of data about how humans use smartphones, smart devices, computers, and more. AI can quickly and efficiently analyze this data to predict how people want to use these devices. For example, robot vacuums can be made smarter by taking into account standard human preferences when vacuuming floors.
The standard way this applies to smart homes is with routines. When a smart home system turns lights off or on at specific times of the day or night, AI takes information from that routine and millions of similar users’ routines to identify patterns. We use these patterns to try to predict how other users might use our routines, and thereby think about how humans might behave.
How AI will be integrated into the smart home
So how else will AI be integrated into the smart home? Here are some examples.
AI voice assistant
When we talk to Amazon Alexa or other virtual assistants, we often ask them to do things we might have done ourselves before the age of smart home technology. For example, you can ask Alexa to add a calendar entry. Instead of walking around the room and turning it on yourself, you can ask Alexa to turn it on.
AI is involved in how you communicate with Alexa. AI enables Alexa to interact more conversationally. Being an AI assistant, Alexa is easy to use when you don’t feel like you’re talking to a computer.
Alexa will probably respond like a human would. For example, by saying “Okay”.
robot vacuum cleaners and home cleaning
Did you know that many smart vacuums already have AI built in, such as the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni? Be sure to read our full vacuum review.
The vacuum has a camera and uses AI to determine where, how, when and how to clean.
A tangible way to use AI in this vacuum is through navigation. Try to find the most efficient way to move around your house while cleaning. You can also create a map of your home, which helps you tell exactly where you want to clean.
You can speak to Yiko, the built-in voice assistant, to control your vacuum through natural language commands. This makes controlling the vacuum cleaner easier than setting preferences in a smartphone app.
Monitor your appliances and energy consumption
Appliances can participate in home networks and communicate information such as when supplies are running low. For example, printers that benefit from AI can automatically reorder supplies when ink or toner is running low. Print with Alexa lets you manage your ink shipping process with the help of AI technology.
And smart homes are increasingly being able to monitor energy consumption using AI. For example, Alexa can monitor your home’s energy usage.
AI can also recognize and turn off the device when the user is not using it or is unlikely to use it (such as when traveling). This helps reduce energy consumption.
Improved security
AI helps security systems recognize faces. Did you know that you can set Alexa to alert you when strangers enter your home? Think about the positive security implications that come with it. Gone are the days of getting useless motion detection alerts every time your dog walks up to the water fountain at work.
your artificial smart home
Assistance, cleaning, energy monitoring and protection are just a few examples of how AI can be integrated with the smart home.
AI may not be perfect today, but it will get better in the future. You may have heard in the past that the Internet is in its infancy. The Internet is now very mature, but its descendant, AI, is still in its infancy. It will be interesting to see how AI will take on more and more smart-his-home tasks, and (hopefully) improve our lives overall.
