AI Smart Homes: The Future of Real Estate Technology

The AI-integrated real estate market value is expected to cross $1335.89 billion by 2029 in the US alone. Plus, the generative AI segment in real estate is expected to reach $1047 million by 2032. These two statistics demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of AI in the real estate industry. 

Within real estate, AI-based smart homes are being conceptualized at a fast pace. With benefits like energy efficiency, power bill reduction, automation convenience, and higher security, the number of smart homes is increasing. AI and generative AI benefits the sellers and the buyers in different ways. Today our focus will be on AI based smart homes, their convenience, and future prospects. 

Evolution of Smart Homes

The smart homes we know today or are experiencing today found its initiation in 1975. X10 was invented in 1975, which is a communication protocol leveraging a house’s AC wiring to build communication between different devices and control modules. 

New technologies continued to emerge, and in the early 2000’s wireless technologies were introduced. Built with encrypted communication systems, these wireless communication devices were secure and led to a new beginning in smart homes technology. 

Jumping to the present day, where AI is used to empower home appliances like HVAC systems, water heating appliances, fans, lights, security cameras, etc., we are now moving towards a more affordable smart home technology. The integration of AI into homes and the emergence of a new age of smart homes is quite extraordinary. 

AI is allowing the devices in our homes to learn and adapt according to our requirements and data analysis. Devices like smart speakers, smart thermostats, smart robots, and ambient sensors are making our homes come alive and adjust the settings according to our choices. 

The best part is that we benefit from energy efficiency, which means lower power bills and a more environmentally friendly home. Let’s explore how AI is driving home automation. 

AI-Driven Home Automation

Automation is one of the best parts of AI smart homes. With AI continuously learning more about the resident’s choices and preferences, it can automate how all the appliances work to make the lives of homeowners or residents easier. 

1. Smart Lighting and Energy Management

• Optimized Energy Consumption with Smart Lighting: AI-powered smart lighting gives better control and flexibility. The remote control capabilities give a new dimension to lighting design, installation, and utilization. In addition to remote control options, where users can toggle the lights from a distant location to save energy, AI can also bring self-learning networks to lighting. As a result, AI-powered homes can optimize energy consumption because the same principle applies to all smart appliances. Moreover, when connected to a renewable energy supply system like solar panels, homeowners can further achieve better energy efficiency. 
• Enhanced Security Through Lighting Automation:
  AI-powered lights have built-in security features. These include detection, camera, voice recognition, etc. Moreover, some smart lights have a vacation mode randomly. The lights turn on and off randomly, inhibiting burglars from seeking a pattern. 

2. Voice Activated Home Systems

• NLP-Based Smart Human Voice Assistants:
  Voice assistants leverage natural language processing to understand human voice commands and respond accordingly. These devices can be interlinked with the appliances and devices in the home through a common WiFi network. Thus it gives seamless and no-touch control to manage the usage of the appliances and devices in the house.
  
• AI-Based Intelligent Virtual Home Control:
  Voice assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa can become your ultimate home control correspondent. You can connect all the devices through an application and control every aspect of your home. Everything will be based on your voice commands, from unfurling the curtains to switching on the heat or cooling system to toggling the lights and opening the gates. 

3. Advanced Access Control

• Smart Locks and Biometric Entry:
  Smart homes have biometric entry systems wherein, the residents' fingerprints or face or both are used to open the doors. Then, we can have smart locks that also open with fingerprints, voice, or face. These systems have built-in security features to log every unsuccessful attempt to open the door or lock. 

4. AI-Optimized Climate Control

• Smart Thermostats and Energy Savings:
  The heating and cooling systems in our houses take the major chunk of energy bills. AI-optimized climate control technology uses AI algorithms to learn the user behavior and fine tune the settings. This way, the utilization of the heating and cooling is reduced. 

Moreover, AI senses the presence of people in the room and adjusts the settings accordingly. It can also know when a room is empty and cut off the heating or cooling supply, thereby reducing energy consumption. 

Key Features of AI Smart Homes

Smart homes have AI-enabled devices connecting to a central command system through a common WiFi network. The commands travel in wavelengths through the wireless network and instructs the device requested to perform the desired function.  Such voice-activated devices and appliances are plenty in a smart home. Here are a few other features of smart homes;

1. Lower Energy Bills

In the UK, AI-powered smart homes can save up to £2.5 billion by 2030. When AI is integrated into a house, it reads, understands, and adjusts the usage of all the appliances connected to it. From changing the light brightness to toggling the HVAC systems to monitoring every unit of energy consumed, AI helps save energy bills. 

2. Enhanced Residential Security

AI-enabled cameras can identify the residents of a house and built-in sensors can detect the presence of an individual. It can send real-time alerts in case of intrusions or when an unusual activity is detected. It may sound scary, but the same system proves to be beneficial when the same AI system provides access control through face, biometric, and retinal scans. These systems can also predict potential security threats and start recording.

3. Smart Home Lighting

Smart homes have centrally controlled lighting systems controllable through voice, remote, and mobile applications. Smart lighting can be customized according to the usage pattern of every area of the home. The same lights are an interface for speakers and heating systems. 

4. Intelligent Detection System

Homes built on automation and AI technologies have predictive abilities and robust detection systems. They can detect water leakage in pipes fitted inside the walls, gas from within the house, and electric circuit anomalies. 

Upon detection, the homeowners will receive notifications about the leakage. Moreover, the AI systems can also pause gas, water, and electricity supply to control the damage. 

Access to these benefits gives the residents peace of mind and streamlines how they control every aspect of their houses. While energy savings are a significant benefit that homeowners enjoy, AI-powered smart homes have a better quality of life and convenience. 

AI automates the majority of tasks one has to do every day. On top of this, AI optimizes those tasks according to the individual's routine and preferences. It personalizes the way we live in our homes. 

From recording all sorts of breach attempts with smart cameras, AI also provides intrusion detection benefits. While everything in AI smart homes is great, we cannot ignore the privacy concerns and AI bias and discrimination. Where companies manufacture systems to improve our lives, they also have an ethical implication to address all privacy issues. 

If someone cannot break into our homes through the door, they shouldn’t be able to break into our lives through the data collected by AI systems. 

Future Trends of AI in Smart Homes

AI can not control our homes and through this control, it is making our lives better. If you are thinking that we have reached the apex of AI’s integration into our homes, think again. 

Many new developments are coming ashore to improve, modify, and alter the benefits or services we are enjoying today. Let’s find out what more these smart technologies have to offer. 

A. Use of Blockchain in Real Estate:

Blockchain technology can be used to authenticate and execute smart contracts, track payments, and take note of all real estate transactions. 

With blockchain technology taking care of the contracting, leasing, and other management functions, real estate can finally be free of intermediaries and brokers. Owners and sellers can take where the former can list properties, and the technology can improve the property search process. 

Moreover, with this technology, we can streamline the documentation process. This will become a significant improvement to the current paper-based documentation, which is susceptible to fraud, misrepresentation, and loss. But with every property record submitted to the blockchain, it cannot be changed or altered. 

The distributed ledger technology allows the leases to be signed on execution and payments on the chain. Overall, blockchain technology is going to make the real estate and especially the commercial real estate (CRE) industry better. 

B. Robots-Assisted homes:

The smart homes of the future will be incomplete without robots assisting humans in doing the chores. These human-like robots will make our lives easier, efficient, and convenient. They can clean homes, maintain the garden, help with cooking, and much more. 

We are already observing limited examples of machines taking care of the house, especially the robot vacuum cleaners. Around 39% of the houses in the next decade in the US will have automation and robotics integrated. 

C. Privacy and Confidentiality :

Here again, we want to bring your focus on the ethical implications of all these developments. When AI takes control of your home, and robots see and understand everything, who are they sending this information to? 

Ethically speaking, we still need to think about our privacy and the possible vulnerabilities of these systems. Improper and sensitive personal data can be collected, making it susceptible to data abuse.

Future smart homeowners must be aware of CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability) for data protection. Confidentiality is protecting data from unauthorized access. Data integrity means preventing anyone from arbitrary changes during storage and processes. Plus, only legitimate owners must be able to avail of this data.

Conclusion

Integrating AI in the real estate industry and creating smart homes is still under development. With new technologies and systems emerging, homeowners must understand the technology, system, and its implications. Where the real estate industry is on a growth trajectory with the help of AI, a smart approach would be to tread carefully and get expert help for better understanding. 

At Intuz, we are the masters of AI-powered real estate software solutions development. With our assistance, you can find authentic and updated information about how AI can help your business expand and build futuristic smart homes.