Shelly is equipping its smart home app with two AI assistants
Shelly is launching two AI assistants into the smart home market. In future, they are set to not only help users control connected devices, but also act as personal advisors.
«SoFi» and «MitRa» are the names of the two new additions to the Shelly app, which are currently still in the testing phase. Both perform clearly distinct tasks. Whilst «SoFi» responds to text inputs, displays device status and creates customised automation scenarios on request, «MitRa» handles the more complex cases: the AI manages extensive smart scenarios, monitors power consumption and system performance, and also understands voice commands. According to Shelly, this works in twenty languages.
With the new assistants, Shelly aims to significantly enhance its control app. In future, it will independently derive recommendations from usage behaviour and device data, for example to reduce electricity consumption. Suggestions for everyday life are also conceivable, as Shelly writes in its press release: the AI could, for example, help improve sleeping habits.
Shelly introduces a plan for the first time
The press release also brings with it a second change that probably won’t please everyone: whilst a free version of the app will remain available, it will now be supplemented by a premium plan.
Whilst the AI assistants can still be accessed for free, the plan includes additional daily interactions, automatic reminders and monthly energy reports. The plan costs €3.90 per month or €35.90 when paid annually. However, it is not yet clear when the AI assistants will actually be launched.
The big data privacy question
In the announcement, Shelly emphasises that data privacy is the company’s top priority. Personal data is not stored; the assistant therefore works exclusively with anonymised information and is designed to be GDPR-compliant.
That sounds good at first glance, but remains vague at its core. This is because Shelly has not yet revealed which model powers the speech recognition. It also remains unclear where the collected data is processed, even if it is anonymised.
Despite these unanswered questions, speech recognition and AI-based analysis are among the most useful functions that should enable users to get more out of the Shelly ecosystem.
Hamburg local, bookworm, and ice hockey fan. Dad and granddad. Constantly tinkering around with my smart home setup. I love DIY, the outdoors, fashion, and cosmetics.
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