Smart homes have gotten more intelligent over the years, but we still haven’t quite reached the same level as old sci-fi movies where people could talk directly to a house AI. Fortunately, if Google plays its cards right, this technology may come sooner than you think. The company is working on letting Gemini interact with your smart home devices and tweak their settings based on your natural language prompts.
Google Gemini’s Home Integration Is Currently in the Testing Phase
As announced on Google Nest Help, the newest Public Preview build for the Google Home app features a new extension for Gemini:
With the Google Home extension, you can control your smart home devices with your Gemini mobile app.
For example, you can write or say:
- ‘Turn on/off all of the lights.’
- ‘Help me clean up the kitchen’ (to start the vacuum cleaner).
- ‘Turn the thermostat to heat-cool mode.’
At first glance, this may sound like commands you’d give a regular Google Home device. However, because Gemini runs off of an LLM, it can understand natural language prompts. This means it can take context from what you’re saying and figure out the best course of action.
For example, in Google’s guide on controlling your smart home with Gemini, the company states that you can say “The sun is too bright in the living room” and Gemini will know to close the window coverings. Or you can say “Set the dining room for a romantic date night” and Gemini will do its best to set the scene.
There are a few caveats with this new feature. For the time being, Gemini can only process English prompts, and it’s not allowed to influence any smart security devices. If that sounds alright with you, check out how to join the Google Home Preview Program if you want to give this feature a try early.