Google Is Making It Easier to Automate Your Smart Home

Google Home is finally gaining its first Gemini AI integrations, namely the "Help Me Create" automation generator and the "AI Camera Search" function. Plus, you can now control Google Home from the Gemini chatbot app.

Help Me Create, originally teased in August, is practically the polar opposite of Google's Home Automation Script Editor.

While the old Script Editor is intended power users who are confident enough to program routines, Help Me Create is designed for those who are less inclined to build automations from scratch. From the Google Home app, you can ask Help Me Create to generate an automation that makes your home more energy efficient, for example, or that automatically adjusts smart bulb temperature throughout the day.

The AI Camera Search feature is arguably more useful than Help Me Create. It lets you ask your cameras what they've seen using natural language. So, you might ask if the USPS van stopped by today, or if the dog dug a hole in the yard. Google Home will surface any relevant results, and it will automatically label camera events in an easy-to-read feed. (I doubt that this will be perfect at launch, but it's got a lot of potential.)

There's also the new Google Home extension for Gemini. It lets you control your smart home from the Gemini AI chatbot app (on Android). I'm not sure why you would type out a command that you could just as easily perform in the Google Home app or through Google Assistant (which is still considered a component of the Google Home ecosystem, per Google). Maybe Gemini is useful for more complicated commands, or time-based commands like "turn off all the lights and turn on the TV at 6 PM." I really don't know.

Help Me Create is rolling out to Nest Aware subscribers in Public Preview over the coming months. AI Camera Search, which also requires a Nest Aware membership in Public Preview, is available today. The Gemini Google Home extension does not require a subscription but is only available in Public Preview.

Source: Google