Is the Smart Home Getting * Too * Smart?

Light switches, doorbells and curtain rods may soon be domestic relics of a bygone era. In a world drunk on the promise of all things artificially intelligent, that last refuge known as our home is quickly becoming an automated experience, hyper-responsive to our voices, movements and habits. A mattress that automatically adjusts its shape in response to sleep data? A robotic mower that trims the lawn without noise, emissions or invoices? Or a smart fridge that “talks” to your fitness tracker to make meal recommendations based on health data and what’s on hand at home? It’s all currently available to consumers and (relatively) affordable.

“Right now, home technology is evolving faster than smartphones,” says Chris Beucler, president of West Coast luxury design firm Blue Heron Nexus. “A pioneering industry of integrators” — contractors who configure these technologies and make them disappear into the background — “is determining the design of a home just as much if not more so than interior designers,” he says, citing the rapid growth of the sector. While smart home systems have been available for years, they have now infiltrated every corner of the modern house, seamlessly integrating AI into our daily lives, from facial recognition security systems that create profiles of everyone allowed inside (cleaning crews, weekend guests) to programs that can respond to inhabitants’ skin temperatures and adjust heating and air conditioning accordingly. 

Russ Snyder, owner of Snyder Diamond kitchen and bath showrooms, says a fully automated Jetsons future is not far away: “In Europe, they are already creating entirely robotic kitchens, and in Japan, there are toilets that can check your blood pressure and [offer] a urinalysis.”

In the U.S., Snyder says, much of the innovation is happening in home wellness: “There have been huge evolutions in personal health technology at home: ZeroBody [Dry Float] beds, cryo beds, which instead of plunging into ice water allows you to lay in a bed in your clothes and gets you down to 34-35 degrees, even floating beds that replicate being in a salt tank. These are traditionally commercial applications that are now making their way into the home.”

Los Angeles real estate superagent Santiago Arana concurs and welcomes the explosion of wellness technology. “I myself am a biohacker, so I’m on the forefront of what’s good for the body and how we can incorporate that into your house,” says Arana, who holds the listing for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s $68 million Beverly Hills home.

In addition to his work as a broker, Arana develops luxury homes, which have been purchased by such clients as LeBron James. His latest project, a 20,000-square-foot compound in Brentwood, will include a state-of-the-art gym as well as a dedicated biohacking room complete with red light therapy beds, hyperbaric oxygen bed, massage/leg compression boots and a large, in-ground cold plunge pool where you can stand up on one side and sit on the other. 

With home technology sure to keep evolving, builders like Beucler welcome advances that allow houses to keep up with the times. “Integrators are building in the flexibility so that like a Tesla, you can turn it on in the morning and its system will update,” says Beucler. “These homes will similarly be sent through the web and will also automatically upgrade.”

But how much tech do homeowners actually want? For designers like Jeff Andrews, the answer isn’t always more. “Yes, they want the technology, but they don’t want to be intimidated by it,” says the designer whose clients include Kaley Cuoco, Kris Jenner and Lady Gaga. “Mostly, they want things that make their life easier and chic.” 

Curating what technology comes into the house — and what stays out — increasingly falls under Andrews’ purview. “The most important thing is to find out what’s important to clients and what isn’t,” he says. “For example, a bunch of bells and whistles on appliances aren’t necessary. It’s like a car — there are so many things that you’re not going to use.” And when the answer is yes to technology, it always comes with a nonnegotiable aesthetic requirement. Case in point: “Lutron’s Alisse system operates lighting, window treatments and music with a panel that includes as many or as few buttons as you want with limitless programming options. But their finishes are so chic — modern, sleek and beautiful. This is a good solution.”

Arana similarly weighs the pros and cons of the heavily wired home. “There’s an environmental and health component to all of this. The more wireless you are, the larger the electromagnetic fields [EMFs] in your house that are not good for you,” says Arana, who has a newly listed $35 million home that is entirely hardwired instead of wireless. “For people who are very conscious about health and wellness, having a hardwired home is going to become more and more important,” he says. “AI is definitely coming for your appliances, but there has to be a balance about it. At a certain point, people will think twice about, ‘Do I really want a robot in my house that’s just going to expand my EMFs?’ ” 

This story appeared in the Oct. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.