Smart home platform Josh.ai is rolling out JoshGPT and a handheld remote control that allows users to integrate operational functionalities with a generative assistant that answers questions across all topics. The new features are intended to make Josh.ai a contender against Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and the Apple HomeKit. With its Josh app, location-aware Josh Micro with Nano microphones and handheld Josh Remote, the company says Josh.ai is “more than a voice add-on, it is the industry’s only multifaceted control system.” Custom software also lets Josh Remote simplify installation and provide a dedicated experience for each household TV.

Leveraging Josh.ai’s contextually aware far-field microphones — Josh Micro and Nano —“clients can naturally talk to JoshGPT like a friend that is standing by,” the company says in an announcement.

Tapping the voice button or text commands on the Josh app lets customers access JoshGPT from anywhere, multitasking “home control and dynamic assistance” with requests like “Okay Josh, can you turn on the kitchen lights and tell me a quick recipe for chicken enchiladas?”

Likewise, the remote is not just “dedicated to cable, satellite, or streaming navigation,” like competing devices, the company says, specifying “Josh Remote empowers users to speak freely” with instructions like “Dim the theater lights, close the blackouts everywhere, and can you recommend some movies similar to ‘Top Gun?’”

JoshGPT is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The Denver-based company says authorized dealers will be offering the system which benefit from “a number of installer-friendly features such as greater contextual awareness and programming flexibility,” according to CEPro.

For example, “the debut of Intelligent Areas groups commonly associated rooms and devices together through a new System Setup page that easily organizes a property’s floor plan,” CEPro writes, noting “Device Defaults allows for room customization to offer personalized experiences with the ability to dictate presets when a room is turned on and off.”

“Our mission at Josh.ai has always been to build the ultimate interface for simple, private, and magical experiences in the smart home,” Josh.ai CEO Alex Capecelatro said, citing “Intelligent Areas, System Setup, and Room Customization as innovative features that represent the culmination of feedback from our network of more than 1,400 certified dealers.”

Capecelatro says Josh.ai is “the first company to offer the convenience of hands-free access to generative AI,” making it a viable smart assistant choice for clients when at home or on-the-go.

Related:
Can ChatGPT Control Your Smart Home?, MUO, 6/29/23
How Are Households Powering the Smart Home Revolution?, Innovation News Network, 6/29/23
The Smart Home Jury Is Still Out on Matter, AI Could Help, TechNewsWorld, 6/29/23