AI in the smart home: what artificial intelligence can do in your home today

Artificial intelligence in home automation is useful today for jobs that take minutes. An AI agent can watch a camera for a delivery, run the robot vacuum and report where it got stuck, or check the whole house for lights and appliances left on. For the quick jobs, like turning off one light, a plain voice command or a routine is still faster.

We build Port OS, which connects AI assistants to smart home devices, so we have an interest in this topic. This post explains what AI changes in a smart home, where it is still slow, and which jobs to give it.

What "AI smart home" means today

Smart homes have used simple automation for years: schedules, motion sensors and routines that run fixed steps. Voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant added voice commands on top, matched against fixed phrases.

The AI part is new. A large language model (LLM) can read a request in plain words, look at your devices and their state, decide what to do and call the devices. You can reach that kind of AI in two ways:

1. Built into a voice assistant. Alexa+ and Gemini for Home put a language model behind the familiar speakers.
2. A general AI assistant connected to your devices. ChatGPT, Claude or Grok can control a home through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a standard way for an AI app to call outside tools.

Why AI is slow at the quick jobs

When we timed four AI assistants on one home, turning off a clearly named light took 8 to 11 seconds. An ambiguous request took up to two minutes. A classic voice assistant does the same command in about 1.3 seconds in our measurements.

The reason is how the AI gets its accuracy. It looks up your devices, decides which one you mean, calls it and often checks the result. Each step is another turn of the model, and each turn takes time. Our post on how Alexa works shows how every generation of assistant traded speed for understanding.

So for quick commands, keep using what is fast: a voice command, a button, a schedule or a routine.

Where AI is already useful: long-running jobs

The same slow loop is fine when the job takes minutes anyway. These jobs come from our own use of AI agents with Port OS:

1. Watch for a delivery. The agent checks the Ring camera and tells you when a package arrives.
2. Look after the pets. The agent drives a Roborock robot vacuum with a camera through the house, checks on the cats and reports back. It is slow, and it works.
3. Check the house before bed. The agent reads the state of every light, lock and appliance and turns off what was left on.
4. Build a playlist and play it. The agent picks videos or music from your preferences and plays them on the TV or speakers.
5. Watch the appliances. The agent checks ovens, fridges and washers and tells you when one has been on or open too long.

None of these needs a one-second answer. All of them need the agent to understand the home, look at state and make choices, which is what language models are good at.

The robot you already own

Device makers have promised a home robot assistant for years. Samsung first showed Ballie, a rolling home robot, at CES 2020 and showed a new version at CES 2024. At the time of writing, you cannot buy one. Most device brands, including SwitchBot and Samsung SmartThings, rely on Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri for voice control and do not offer their own AI agent that can run the whole home.

Many homes already have a robot: the robot vacuum. Some models have cameras, and they can drive to any room. Connected to an AI agent, a robot vacuum can patrol the house, check on pets and show you what it sees. It is not a humanoid butler. It is a working AI robot body you can use today.

What makes an AI smart home work well

Most failures we see come from missing or unclear device data:

• Unique device names. A lamp, a room and a scene with the same name make the AI guess.
• Rooms and groups. When every device is in a room, "the kitchen lights" has one meaning.
• Device facts. Which plug powers which lamp, and which switch controls which light. Without these facts, the AI has to ask you.
• One way to control every brand. Each brand's app and API behaves differently. One consistent model removes guesswork.

Port OS gives AI assistants that model of your home: rooms, groups, device types and one control API across brands such as Tuya, SmartThings, Philips Hue and Alexa. To start, read how to control your smart home with ChatGPT or Claude. If you are new to smart homes, start with building your first smart home.

Frequently asked questions

How is AI used in home automation?

AI reads requests in plain words, looks at device state and decides which devices to control. It is most useful for jobs that need judgment or take minutes, such as checking the house before bed or watching a camera. Fixed routines still handle the quick, repeated jobs.

Is AI in smart homes safe?

An AI agent can only do what its connection allows. Connect only the devices you want it to control, and tell the assistant to ask before it unlocks or disarms anything. When you link an assistant to Port OS, you choose whether it can only read your devices or also control them.

Is Samsung Ballie available?

Samsung has shown Ballie at CES several times since 2020. At the time of writing, it is not on sale. A robot vacuum connected to an AI agent can already do some of the jobs Ballie was shown doing, such as moving through the house and checking on pets.

Do I need a new hub for an AI smart home?

Usually not. AI assistants connect to the cloud services of the devices you already have. Port OS links those services and gives the AI one way to control them.

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