The wildest AI smart home products on show at CES 2024
It's been more than a year since ChatGPT turned artificial intelligence into a topic of dinner-table conversation around the world – and this year’s Consumer Electronics Show really saw AI come home.
Specifically, the CES tech show in Las Vegas saw a profusion of AI-enabled smart home products, ranging from bird feeders to outdoor grills. Naturally, the usual suspects - ‘smart’ fridges and domestic robots – are now also charged up with generative AI.
So what will the home of the future look like and how will AI improve our home lives? These are some of the wildest and wackiest AI smart home products on show at CES 2024.
Samsung AI fridge
It just wouldn’t be CES without Samsung unveiling some kind of hi-tech fridge, and 2024 sees AI invading the humble refrigerator.
The 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub uses AI vision to record the expiry dates of products inside.
The AI not only notifies families when the gherkins are about to go fizzy, it also offers recipe suggestions for when ingredients are about to go off.
One stand visitor said, pithily, “It’s pretty useful because I always find expired vegetables in my fridge.”
Baby cry translator
Baby monitors have been around for decades, but artificial intelligence promises to do the impossible - and ‘translate’ what your baby really wants.
Capella’s app-based monitor promises to translate cries so that parents can understand whether a baby is uncomfortable, tired or needs a nappy change, for just $10 (£8) a month. The organisation claims that its app is 95% accurate (versus 30% for normal human intuition).
AI bird feeder
Bird Buddy uses artificial intelligence to identify visitors to your bird feeder - with a paired app which identifies every bird (or a list of choices if the app isn’t sure).
The app also offers a live video feed, with the ability to save images and clips.
The Bird Buddy starts at £239, with extras including an optional solar panel, delivering ‘postcards’ of avian visitors via the app, including samples of their song.
Two-legged AI home robot
Korean tech giant LG forged a bold path into the future with a two-legged robot (known as a ‘smart home AI agent’ which can understand voice commands from users.
The robot - part of the company’s vision for a ‘zero labour home’ - can command other smart home devices and sensors, and recognises people's faces. It can also monitor temperature and humidity through the home.
The robot can also act as a ‘security guard’ for the home (and for pets), with users able to ‘see through’ the robot's eyes and reassure themselves that Fluffy or Rover are in good health.
When users return home, the robot can greet them at the front door, and can also (in the manner of an Alexa device) offer weather updates, personal schedules or reminders to take pills.
AI door lock that recognises you
Your face can unlock your phone - so why can’t it unlock your front door? Soon you’ll be able to do just that.
Lockly’s Visage smart lock uses facial recognition to replace a standard physical lock (it can also work with tech such as Apple’s Home Key or fingerprint readers), with the door unlocking in response to a face scan from the unit. The Visage lock retails for $349 (£274).
AI smart barbecue
A built-in AI ‘chef’ inside the Perfecta smart barbecue assesses the cooking time of meat (based on thickness and other factors) before blasting it with infrared on both sides to create seared, meaty perfection.
Seer, the company behind it, claims that the $3,500 (£2,700) device can cook an inch-thick steak in just 90 seconds, with the AI NeuralFire chef taking instructions on how well you like your steak down and how crispy you like the outside.
Recommended reading
Google reveals new 'robot constitution' to try and stop robots from accidentally killing humans(The Independent)
AI researcher says '10-20%' chance AI will take over (Fortune)
AI to reach $1,345bn by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets)
