The Rise of Intelligent Homes: A Glimpse into the Future
Artificial Intelligence is a topic that is garnering a lot of attention at present. We thought that an interesting approach to the discussions would be to predict what the future of AI in homes might look like. Read our fly-on-the-wall look at the AI home of tomorrow as we step into a virtual time-machine to observe how AI has shaped home design – who knows, it may even give you some ideas for your future new builds!
Your Wake Up Call
Your alarm goes off.
It’s 6.37am.
05/12/2035.
You hit snooze.
“According to our reading of your body clock, 6.37 is the optimum time to wake up.”
You hit snooze again.
“You won’t feel anymore awake in 8 minutes.”
You consider throwing your alarm clock against the wall but remember that will only be reflected in your Mood-o-Meter watch for the rest of the day, and you’ll be lectured with hourly tips on how to relax your mind.
For now, your Mood-o-Meter has dictated the music that starts playing on your Echo Dot 11th Gen.
‘Hungry Heart’ by Bruce Springsteen.
You smirk as you realise the mood-based algorithm has done it again, giving you the pep you need to start your day.
You sigh, stretch and roll out of bed, which contorts to straighten the sheets and the mattress returns to full rigidity.
The curtains are already open – an action that coincided with the admonishment you were given by your alarm clock, so there’s no turning back now. The daylight is flooding in and you’re committed (physically, if not quite mentally – thankfully the coffee machine is already whirring away in the kitchen to address that).
As you step into your ensuite, the spotlights gently illuminate the room, mercifully recognising that a strong blast of light in a white tiled room is too abrupt a wake-up. If only the alarm clock shared that understanding.
The tiles are warming up underfoot. You didn’t program them to but luckily the sensors used your natural thermostat to detect the optimum temperature for your body at this time of day.
‘Optimum’ is a word that seemed to be dished out ad infinitum when you were sold this home.
The trend continues in the bathroom, as the perfectly warm jets of water from the shower cascade down on you for exactly 8 minutes, during which time, the towel on the rail has warmed up.
***
A Seamless Morning Routine
Downstairs, you open the fridge.
Your eyes immediately drift towards the packet of bacon but before you can so much as lick your lips, the fridge has already spoken.
“Based on your readings, we recommend a breakfast of Greek Yoghurt, a banana and two slices of granary toast.”
Exactly what readings, you’re not quite sure, nor are you particularly keen to know. At least the fridge knows what’s stocked, so you don’t need to go on an avocado run like you would before the latest update of the Cool Recommendations software.
Just like the bathroom and the bedroom, the conditions are faultless. It feels normal now but when you moved in, the constantly adapting temperature and air quality felt intoxicating and not always in a good way. But now, you feel, it’s just nice not having to wear a dressing gown until the house warms up. You do miss the ritual of opening windows in the summer though.
Having begrudgingly followed the fridge’s instructions on consuming a healthy breakfast – a concept you never anticipated having three years ago – you head for the front door.
There’s no need to go upstairs to turn the lights off – the moment your key turns in the lock, only the essential systems continue to receive electricity from the self-sufficient solar powered generator. Such as the fridge, which is currently ordering your shopping from the local Sainsbury’s, and the Roomba 16th Gen model, which is not only cleaning your floors but feeding the dog.
At 12.30pm the dog door in the sitting room briefly unlocks so Baxter can pop out for a wee, before locking again when he’s back in.
You receive a ping to your phone letting you know that nature called and was duly answered. Good for Baxter, you think.
***
Your Colleague the Chatbot
You drive home after a gruelling four hour stint in the office, where you entered your password and set up the system commands for the day, before playing a couple of games of pool in the rec room, while the machines did your job for you.
What job?
It’s been so long, you can barely remember.
Something to do with distribution.
You kept your phone on in case a customer calls but that’s a rarity these days, what with the Chatbot taking care of even the most intricate queries. The odd call you take tends to be from the pre-AI generation, who refuse to get with the times and complain that the “human touch is missing.” The same generation who scoff at people who study YouTubing at University.
So it’s you, the pool table and the motion detecting pool balls that assess your skill level and move on their own accord after your turn.
***
After a Hard Day's Work...
As you pull into the driveway, the hallway light flicks on. Then the kettle. Proximity sensor aside, not much has changed about kettles – if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. It looks homely outside and you think back to childhood, walking home from the bus stop after school and seeing the lights on inside, knowing that you’ll be greeted by warmth. Your Mood-o-Meter bleeps. It looks like it’ll be recommending some nostalgia viewing on Netflix this evening.
As you enter the front door, you spot the green light on your 4ft locker. You scan your fob and the door eases open. Inside, you retrieve the refrigerated shopping bags that your appliance kindly ordered for you earlier.
Dinner eaten, you feel perfectly full, thanks to the ideal recommended portion size, having registered all of your snacks and meals for the day on your diet app.
You sit down for the evening. But first, a quick call with your older brother. It takes a while for him to figure out the 3D feature on Zoom – it always does. He was born in the early 90s, after all. But when it’s finally set-up – by which time, you’ve shared so many frustrated words in trying to help, you’d rather call it a night – you have a quick catch-up with him, as though he was sat in the chair opposite you. Because he is – at least in hologram form.
The evening passes by at a leisurely pace – there’s much more time to make the most of with most of your chores having been accounted for while you were at work. You even have time for a walk around the block after your call with your brother – the streets are much busier at this time of the evening than they used to be. Motion detecting low-level lighting makes these walks much more appealing, without disturbing people in their homes.
Back home, as the credits roll on Stand By Me (the Mood-o-Meter hit another home run), your watch signals that you’ve got a 15 minute window in order to get to sleep, in order to get your optimum hours. The pressure that used to place on falling asleep used to be the toughest part of the day, but now, with the bespoke mood lighting and white noise, you feel like you’ll be out as soon as your head hits the pillow.
Like everything in this home, falling asleep is a perfectly calculated formula. So, you can sink your head into the memory fibre pillow knowing you’ll wake up feeling totally reinvigorated and ready for a productive day…letting AI do all the jobs you’ve evolved beyond concerning yourself with.
