Apple is reportedly preparing to launch new smart home offerings powered by artificial intelligence (AI). While the iPhone maker wishes to carve a niche in a highly competitive market, it will face AI-specific challenges that it is unfamiliar with.
Apple is reportedly moving towards hardware development, with plans for a dedicated operating system, homeOS, and a suite of AI-powered smart devices. Let’s look at what can potentially weigh it down.
Apple wants to enter the smart home market
Days after the release of the iPhone 16, Apple is incorporating AI to compete in the smart home market. Currently, Microsoft’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant dominate the market.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is expanding into the new market while it shifts focus onto hardware development over the next two years. The tech giant will create a new operating system called homeOS, smart displays, and a higher-end robotic device.
At the same time, the iPhone manufacturer is building a protocol called Matter to ensure compatibility across platforms.
What is noteworthy is Apple’s use of artificial intelligence in its Apple Intelligence platform for home automation and improving control of home devices.
As it nears launch, Apple faces a double whammy of challenges. The first is bringing new features at prices that can compete with existing players. Apart from Google and Microsoft, many players like Samsung and LG offer AI-powered smart home systems.
The second is navigating the challenges that AI brings.
Future issues could come with a lack of standardization
Shaktikanta Das, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said on Monday that integration of AI can come with risks. He highlighted that relying on a few technology providers can lead to concentration risks. Das also raised concerns that AI-driven services can amplify systemic risks within the financial sector.
We’re seeing historic levels of effort and funding to show AI is unsafe. No other new technology has had to withstand such a barrage.
And yet opponents have demonstrated far less marginal risk than was known for early compute and the Internet.
The safest new paradigm yet.
— martin_casado (@martin_casado) October 13, 2024
Similar centralization risks could arise in a smart home if Apple’s technology fails.
Meanwhile, AI has been under the radar for perpetrating biases, intruding on privacy, and extensive data collection practices. Most of these allegations are largely due to AI algorithms being adaptive and aimed at personalization.
A research blog explains that smart home devices communicate with the help of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cellular networks. Both the network and the devices have to be secured to protect them from hacks. Apple might have to solve the challenge of security consistency across networks and devices in a market with no standardization.
Another challenge is regulations. For instance, the European Union has put out a risk-based framework on AI data collection practices through the AI Act. The AI Act went into effect on August 1, 2024, and will be fully applicable in two years. Therefore, Apple’s use of AI in smart homes will also have to be domestically adapted to follow the law of the land.
