First there was ChatGPT. And now, drawing on the same technology, there’s a new smart home system: JoshGPT. Is this the shape of things to come?
Josh is a complete home automation system, driven by the very latest in artificial intelligence (AI). And it’s definitely still in its pricey stage.
Let’s take a look.
Pricey and Personalized, It’s Targeting the Luxury Market…
Josh.ai, which started up in 2015, describes itself as creating “platforms and products that enable true natural interaction with technology in everyday life.” Now, with its latest offering, it puts the tech from OpenAI’s ChatGPT into smart home design. With its cutting-edge Natural Language Processing, it can run circles around other systems.
Josh absorbs strings of questions, and handles them together. It choreographs the various smart home devices a household has. It can work with Apple TV and various entertainment subscriptions.
Here’s the rub. The Josh.ai home automation system costs several thousands of dollars. Setting up the system takes professionals — who match rooms with sensors in a way that’s unique to each home.
But Could Be a Game-Changer for Older Adults?
Amazon’s Echo has won fans among older adults. Asking Alexa for updates might be easier than reading the weather report, thermostat, or watch.
What else can voice-controlled apps do?
- Turn on lights for safety at night.
- Lock and unlock doors, and share lock codes with trusted visitors.
- Monitor a home for unusual activity or for water, smoke, or gas leaks. Send alert messages to our phones, so we can prevent damage or address hazards.
- Monitor personal health indicators and provide urgent alert services.
- Enable appliances to track food nutrition and freshness dates; automate grocery orders; and automatically adjust cooking and washing settings.
And so, for those of us who adopt the technology, safety and independence can be more robust through decades of our adult lives. We can also better manage our resources. We save energy and money with smart thermostats and shades, together with local weather data.
GPT Tech Makes Even-Smarter Homes…
Smart homes will keep getting better at doing what really matters to their occupants. The use of large language models makes big steps possible.
Josh’s handheld remote controls interact with all TVs, not just one. Voice commands are processed in the home, so our details aren’t shared over the internet. (And that’s pretty important, because Josh is always picking up details, down to where you are in the home.)
Have JoshGPT dim the lights in a specific room, shut the shades, and turn on a movie that’ll suit your tastes. Or turn on the kitchen lights, and hear a recipe for spiced mango ice cream as a ranchero album plays. Ask about the music’s history. Listen to an audio description of Mexico City as you cook…
And it’s just as handy away from home. Using a phone (a smart phone, of course!), open the Josh App, and tap into the service from wherever you go.
But Most of Us Will Just Keep Alexa.
Not everyone will run out and get the newest artificial intelligence for home use. Josh.ai is fancier, for sure. But for most of us, it’s out of reach. We might consider it a prototype — an early idea of what smart homes will look like in the next generation.
Meanwhile, most people are doing quite well with the current generation’s smart locks, thermostats, and speakers.
Supporting References
Thomas Dickens for Rightpoint, via IoT for All: Smart Home Automation – Enhancing Lives with AI and Smart Home Tech: A Personal Journey (Jun. 16, 2023).
Juan Pablo Boz via LinkedIn.com: The Impact of AI on Smart Homes (Aug. 19, 2023).
Amit Ravat via LinkedIn: How Will AI Impact the Smart Home Industry? (Jul. 21, 2023).
Maria Diaz for ZDNET (a Red Ventures company): Artificial Intelligence – The First GPT-Powered Smart Home Platform Is Here (Jun. 27, 2023).
First Priority Audio: Josh.ai vs. Alexa: Which Home Voice Assistant Is Best? (Sep. 18, 2023).
Josh.ai via Medium.com: Josh.ai Reveals the Next Generation of Control in the Industry’s First GPT-Powered Home (Jun. 27, 2023).
And as linked.
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