Paulus Schoutsenfounder of the open source platform Home Assistantrecently published a new article on his blog in which he stated that a soon to be implemented dedicated voice assistantscheduled to launch in 2023, that won’t need to rely on cloud command processing like Google, Alexa and Siri. Initially, the software component will not be able to perform all the functions of direct competitors, since, as explained by Schoutsen himself, “to keep the amount of work expected manageable, we will limit the number of possible actions and focus on the basics of interacting with the smart home. No web searches, voice calls or games“.
Sure, voice assistants that leverage the cloud let you know or do just about everything, but if you need simple commands to manage devices in your home, an Internet connection may be superfluous. Furthermore, the presence of multiple ecosystems could complicate things and almost force users to constantly rely on a specific voice assistant for all needs. The latter potential problem could be solved by Mattwhich deals with integrating the various ecosystems within a single platform.
Furthermore, even for the manufacturing companies themselves, support for voice assistants is starting to be a bit expensive. Last month, Amazon laid off thousands of employees and the Alexa division suffered the biggest cuts. Both Google and Amazon, according to reports from Ars Technicahave sold devices compatible with their voice assistants at cost price to increase their installed base quickly, but the costs of maintaining servers could weigh heavily on companies’ balance sheets.
Surely, a smart home based on open source software and a voice assistant not connected to the Internet could prove to be quite interesting for all geeks and for those who care a lot about their privacy.
