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If you think Your smart home Mostly it’s kind of stupid, maybe you’re right. Clumsy voice assistants misunderstand commands. Between compatibility issues and numerous privacy concerns, every new device represents its own kind of adventure, and not always a fun one.
Now, the AI revolution has begun Smart homemaking bold promises and boasting about “fixing everything.” Will it be so? CES 2026 is the place to find out.
I have some guesses about the smart home technologies that will be unveiled at CES, including new conversational AI, increased presence sensing, and the development of more autonomous systems. Artificial intelligence services. Brands are using new features to address old problems, creating smart homes More like personal assistantsfinally.
Here are my top four smart home tech predictions ahead of CES 2026, and what they’ll mean for you.
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My smart home predictions at CES 2026
- Smart home technology brands often label everything as “AI,” but not all of it actually will be.
- Conversational voice assistants will provide better butler-style control of the home.
- Improved presence sensing technology will hit the mainstream, providing privacy benefits.
- Smart devices will automate home routines without the need for human intervention.
1. Brands will call everything “AI” (some will just be)
Gemini for Home is an example of actual AI working in the home.
I Discuss this trend after the IFA exhibition in Berlin. Home brands of all kinds are starting to use the “AI” tag in their marketing. I don’t blame them. Artificial intelligence is such a hot topic that there is pressure to include the term in any new hardware or software a company rolls out.
The problem is that this dilutes the AI nomenclature and confuses people, who become disappointed when “AI” seems to mean everything and nothing at the same time. I expect to see “AI” everywhere at CES, but only a small portion of these claims will actually hold up.
In fact, some of the products promoted will use LLM and Generative artificial intelligence Features, which I will discuss in more detail below. Others will rely on legacy machine learning techniques that we never referred to as “AI” before, but will now get a shiny new label to keep up with the times. Some brands will stretch the term so far that they will call the underlying automated algorithms “AI,” even when that doesn’t make sense.
One day, technology companies may be held accountable for their use Artificial intelligence labeling Incorrectly. But it won’t be at CES 2026. That means our CNET team will be on hand to let you know which AI features are already impressive — and which ones aren’t.
2. Conversational voice assistants finally make talking easy
Alexa Plus feels much better to use than the old Alexa, and signals a coming shift toward more voice assistants.
What makes a voice assistant talk? Think less about “giving commands” and more about “talking to ChatGPT”. Conversational home assistants Use the latest AI features to appear more cheerful, relaxed and able to analyze your meaning more easily. They can understand follow-up commands or sudden changes in direction, answer complex questions and even make suggestions on what to do next.
I’ve been testing the new conversation features in Gemini for Home and Alexa Plus, and they’re great (despite some processing lag). They’re finally fulfilling the promise of “cheerful servants” made years ago by voice assistants, who now seem more aware of their shortcomings.
However, I also see conversational features increasing in third-party platforms, including Josh AI, The latest features of Home Assistant, And even rigorous training, Powered by LLM Voice assistants From brands like Lepro Smart Lights.
Gemini can search your video history, if you don’t mind the privacy implications.
CES 2026 is the perfect opportunity to showcase how smart home devices respond to friendly, casual commands and how they can take advantage of… The latest artificial intelligence technologies To understand your mood and activities. This may mean your question refrigerator What you make for dinner, eat it Your TV Tell you which actors are famous now or give a lightbulb a shout out Change her Lamp colour For your yoga time.
I also expect to see Mobile robots Smart displays that interact with you more realistically, safety systems that now explain what happens when a sensor is triggered and — my favorite — Video doorbells can conduct entire conversations For you when you can’t get in the door, a cool AI trick like Alexa Plus will be rolling out right before CES.
3. Non-invasive presence sensing will appear in full force
Philips Hue isn’t the only brand working on presence sensing.
Presence sensing refers to home devices that monitor human activity around the home, but in a non-intrusive manner. I’ve seen the presence sensing technique before smart thermostats, like nest Learning Thermostat, Since it is easier for the thermostat to know when people in the house are active and adjust temperatures accordingly. Yet this is it Motion sensors are usually more traditional – Sensing direct movement and people near or far.
At CES, I expect to see a wave of new smart devices that step back from direct sensors and instead use small disturbances in Wi-Fi and similar frequencies to measure activity throughout the home. They can sense human presence and movement patterns, but that’s about it. This approach adds more privacy while allowing lights, security systems, and more to respond to human movement.
I’ve already seen this kind of presence sensing in more recent ones Philips Hue smart bulbsbesides Less intrusive monitoring of the elderly. From what I’ve heard, it’s also about security systems and more home tech at CES. It’s a technology that combines low-cost implementation with privacy advantages and ease of use, which means it’s very easy to adopt this type of sensing for a variety of use cases.
4. Home routines are made easier thanks to hands-off automation
Conversational features also help enhance home management without the need for intervention.
During Google’s keynote event this fall, when the company showed off how Gemini for Home AI works, it mentioned something completely unsurprising: No one really builds home routines. These routines are more complex automations in which devices react in concert to stimuli, such as the time of day or a specific command, adjusting the lights, locking the doors, or disabling the security system when you get home.
The problem is that these routines take time and effort to set up, and often require a lot of tinkering Google Home or Apple Home To see what’s possible – or use third-party platforms like IFTTT to manually integrate devices, which adds its own learning curve. The result? Few people with smart devices bother trying.
At CES, I expect we’ll see AI that will take care of that for you. I’ve seen smart home companies describe their vision of a command-free home, where devices take the initiative and act on their own based on triggers determined by artificial intelligence. I expect this idea to become more prominent in security technology, home energy systems, lighting, and various app-based platforms.
Expect home appliances to become more efficient – doing things without being asked to do so.
This self-management technique is a culmination of the trends I’ve been discussing. Conversational voice assistants will happily set up a routine for you with a simple prompt — something I tried with Gemini for Home and actually prefer over the old approach. New presence sensing features will take the lead, adjusting lights and settings as people arrive or leave. Algorithms will increasingly focus on how to do this for you Routines shape the device’s behavior, rather than making you build routines for it.
I’m not sure if these home AIs will end up with a unique name or not. Some call them AI co-pilots, while others borrow the term “agent” from data analysis Amnesty International agent. Whatever the term, expect these new home management features to appear on many CES screens. Tech companies want you to know — desperately — that their products can take care of things for you.
Of course, you may have to give up some control to let these AI managers take the wheel. When it comes to simple setup, e.g Smart thermostat It adjusts itself automatically, this is rarely a problem. But the whole house responds on its own? This is a much higher-level question — and invites another round of privacy-related questions, so I’m interested to know the details.
Want to know what kind of devices CES might showcase in the smart home world? Take a look at my guides On the best current smart home devicesthe Products I couldn’t stop using this year and My favorite uses for home AI so far.