Until recently, smart devices tended to come with a basic set of preprogrammed algorithms and some simple heuristics to help out around the home.
Clever and useful, but hardly revolutionary.
The introduction of AI and machine learning to the mix has most definitely turned the dial.
The latest generation of smart devices starts out smart and only gets smarter, continuously monitoring their surroundings and learning about their users and their preferences.
Our list features ten of the most advanced bits of AI-powered smart home technology currently on the market, most of them laurelled with top industry awards.
We have every aspect of the home covered – from lighting systems that know just the right luminosity to lift your spirits to washing machines capable of detecting the fabrics you feed them.
Ready to read about some seriously smarty-pants home tech?
Let’s dive in.
Our list starts off with the most affordable options and the prices quoted are subject to change.
1. Philips Hue Lighting + Zigbee Bridge (Starter kit from £69.99)
AI-powered tech can be clever, but emotional intelligence isn’t supposed to be one of its strengths.
This clever piece of technology puts paid to that notion.
It can read your moods better than a boyfriend and pick up on cues you give the new-for-2025 Philips AI-powered assistant via its app, which creates tailored ambient lighting setups that meet your requirements.
The app’s new AI assistant lets you type or speak what you want your lights to do: “Set the mood for a movie night,” for example.
Many Philips Hue smart devices are Bluetooth-enabled, but a Zigbee bridge is required if you intend to use smart lighting throughout your property so the devices can ‘talk’ to each other.
Add motion sensors to the mix, and the sensors’ built-in light sensors will adjust at different times of the day and allow you to save energy – they won’t kick in if they detect lingering daylight.
Smart Key Considerations
While interoperability is a watchword in the world of smart tech, it’s still not seamless, so if you want your tech to talk, especially if they come from different manufacturers, you might want to use an IFTTT (If This Then That) app.
This will allow you to trigger events – for example, the temperature from your Nest thermostat starts to rise, you might want your Philips Hue smart lights to kick in and reflect the temperature change.
UK Retailer: Philips UK
2. Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro WiFi Smart Dead Bolt Lock (£152.95)
The lock offers six ways to access a property, but the fingerprint entry is the smartest.
The AI-Powered lock uses clever fingerprint recognition technology to allow you to gain access to your property without the need for keys and cards.
The device’s AI smarts mean that the lock learns your fingerprints the more you use the device.
Each swipe gives it more information about your whorls and arches so that it matches them better and can discern the user’s prints even with a cut finger, wet hands and when your hands change due to age.
Smart Key Features
- 6-in-1 keyless entry: Access your door via fingerprint, keypad, smartphone app, auto-unlock, mechanical key, or the ‘Magic Shake feature on a compatible smartphone.
- Built-in Wi-Fi: Allows remote control and monitoring without the need for an additional bridge.
- Smart home Integration: Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and SmartThings.
- Auto-Lock & Auto-Unlock: Automatically locks when the door is closed and unlocks as you approach, enhancing convenience and security.
- Tough design: The lock’s housing is made from a zinc alloy and comes with an IP65 rating, making it both dust and water-resistant.
- Multiple users: You can store up to 100 fingerprints and 50 user-defined codes.
UK Retailer: Amazon.
3. SwannBuddy4K Video Doorbell (£169.99)
This smart doorbell system from Swann doesn’t just keep your property safe and secure – it’s an all-purpose meeter and greeter of anyone who arrives on your doorstep.
The doorbell’s AI smarts come into their own in its adaptable demeanour – it has as many personalities as any flesh-and-blood social chameleon, adopting a bright and breezy demeanour when it encounters people it recognises and a stern one if it suspects someone is up to no good.
The device will even learn from its interactions and assume a genial and friendly manner if it has learnt to recognise the person at the door.
This feature can also be customised through the Swann Security app, allowing you to tweak the voice tones.
Smart Key Considerations
While the Swann doorbell will work without a subscription, its £39.99/year (£3.99/month) service elevates the service level.
A subscription gives you:
- Cloud storage for video clips (length of storage depends on your plan).
- AI-based person and package detection.
- Richer notification options (thumbnail previews).
- Extended video history beyond what local storage allows.
- Priority customer support.
UK Retailer: Swann.
4. Mila Mini Smart Air Purifier (£199)
This smart air purifier from Mila has cleaned up (forgive the pun) at industry awards ceremonies of late.
And it’s not difficult to see why.
Unlike old-school purifiers, this one is endowed with AI smarts and sensors that allow it to learn how to keep the air in your room pristine.
The system’s multiple on-board sensors keep tabs on nasty air particulates like VOCs and CO₂ and variables such as air humidity and temperature, and ramp up the purification to kill odours.
Smart Key Features
Over time, Mila learns your home’s daily rhythms, like your cooking times and the changing of seasons in your part of the world.
This allows it to anticipate changes in air quality and adjust its purification accordingly.
For example, if you’ve decided to paint your walls with VOC-heavy paints, the device will sense this and increase its fan speed and filtration modes to remove the nasties to keep your air nice and respirable.
UK Retailer: Mila.
5. Nest Learning Thermostat (£219)
Imagine a piece of tech that knows how toasty you like it before you go to bed or when you come in from work.
Imagine no more because the Nest Learning Thermostat, as the name suggests, learns your heating habits and preferences and adapts its temperature regime accordingly.
After a while, it will have built up such an accurate picture of your thermal preferences that it will require little input from the human in the house and have a thermostat schedule that suits you to a tee.
Its sensors even allow it to detect when you’re out, in which case it will put the home in ‘eco’ mode to save energy.
Smart Key Considerations
Google recommends that you have a qualified electrician install the Heat Link component of the Nest Learning Thermostat system, which is obligatory for European boilers.
Heat Link must be fitted directly to the domestic boiler.
This requires working with high-voltage circuitry and should only be undertaken by a qualified professional.
UK Retailer: Google Store UK.
6. Amazon 43’ Fire TV Omni QLED (£349.99)
In bygone days, you needed a well-informed manservant, valet or concierge to give you tips on what to see and where to visit to pass an agreeable evening.
Today, smart tech acts as a veritable Jeeves – always at your beck and call and ready to make useful suggestions and serve up curated content lists for your entertainment.
None more so than Amazon’s Omni TV, a truly adaptive bit of kit that learns about your preferences the more you use it.
Smart Key Features
- Dolby Vision IQ & HDR10+ Adaptive: Adjusts the picture settings in real time, based on both the content being played and the ambient light in the room.
- AI-Powered Content Recommendations: The TV learns your viewing habits and preferences over time. It uses this data to recommend shows, movies, and apps based on your watching history. The more you use it, the more it adapts and the smarter it becomes when predicting content that you’ll enjoy.
UK Retailer: Amazon.
7. Sonos Era 300 Wireless Smart Speakers (£449)
This speaker system from Sonos is packed with clever AI smarts – the smartest of which is probably its proprietary Trueplay tuning system, which ‘listens’ to the acoustics of your room and tweaks the acoustics to deliver immersive spatial audio.
The AI does this by conducting a series of analyses to test how the sounds it pumps out ricochet off your walls, furniture, and other surfaces.
It uses this acoustic data to then optimise the frequency of its output, ensuring a hyper-immersive 3D soundscape that envelops the listener in aural delight from all angles and heights.
While the system is built to work with Dolby Atmos, the Era 300 also applies its spatial processing capabilities to non-Atmos content.
This can result in a more detailed soundscape and sense of spaciousness even when you pass it standard stereo audio tracks.
Smart Key Features
Unlike the ‘static’ stereo or surround sound you find in traditional audio systems, which use fixed channels (like 2 for stereo or 5-7 channels for surround sound) to create an audio experience where the audio stream is channelled to specific speakers in a fixed configuration.
Dolby Atmos takes a more sophisticated approach to delivering sound, treating sounds as ‘objects’ that can be precisely placed and moved in a three-dimensional soundscape.
UK Retailer: Sonos.
8. Grohe Sense Guard Water Pipe Monitor (£558.22)
This device is a godsend if you want to keep on top of your plumbing and you spend time away from the house.
It employs an AI-driven feature known as the AquaQ self-learning algorithm, which continuously analyses your household’s water consumption patterns and automatically kicks in should it detect an abrupt change in water pressure that suggests a pipe is leaking.
Every 24 hours, the system conducts a micro leak test on the home’s cold-water system so that it can get a handle on the baseline variables of your home’s water supply.
The system also comes with an app so you can monitor your pipes in real-time, keeping tabs on pipe temperature, humidity, water consumption and even frost risk.
Smart Key Considerations
GROHE strongly recommends that the Sense Guard be installed by a professional plumber or installer.
This ensures that the device is correctly connected, configured, and tested for optimal performance.
UK Retailer: Amazon.
9. Roborock S8 MaxUltra Robot Vacuum (£899.99)
Vacuuming is a chore that seems to be made for robots to handle.
However, until recently, it wasn’t easy to find a piece of tech up to the task, especially if you had an odd-shaped living space.
This AI-powered robot uses advanced mapping and precision cleaning to ensure that every corner of your home gets the royal vacuum treatment.
Thanks to its AI smarts, it can navigate any space type, including small and cluttered rooms.
Smart Key Features
Roborock allows users to define zones of their homes via the app.
So simply define ‘entrance hall’ or ‘dining table’, for example, and you can activate the vacuum via your Alexa or Google with a simple voice command, and hey presto, it heads for the designated zone.
This saves on electricity, as it allows you to pinpoint areas of your home that need a clean without having to do an entire floor.
UK Retailer: Amazon.
10. LG WashTower with AI DD+ (£1,999)
Rivals such as Samsung and Whirlpool might use AI to economise and optimise detergent and water, but LG has gone a step further.
Its proprietary AI DD 2.0 software uses deep learning to identify fabric types, weight, and soil levels of a load and then selects the most suitable washing cycle, automatically adjusting settings like wash time, spin speed, and water usage.
By selecting the best cycle for your clothes and fabrics, you can help save them and ensure their longevity, up to 18% in some cases.
Smart Key Features
The LG app is your portal to a world of AI-powered cleaning, allowing you to remotely control the washing machine and monitor its progress.
It also sends you maintenance notifications and allows you to download niche washing cycles – you can use supplementary cycles via the app, such as Pet Hair Removal and Gym Clothes mode.
UK Retailer: LG.
Be Smart, Go Smart
We’re not going to lie, some of the tech on our list is a bit pricey.
However, it’s important to bear in mind that smart tech that learns and adapts to you and your habits over time is not only convenient but also money-saving in the long run.
For example, if you were to amortise the cost of AI over its lifespan, you can save up almost a quarter of your heating bill by using a smart thermostat.
Similarly, smart lighting systems can help drive energy efficiencies, reducing lighting energy usage by over a third.
As such, opting for an AI-powered smart device might just be the smartest decision you make this year or gift a geek.
Got an AI-powered home device you want to talk about with our readers? Tell us about it by getting in touch with us here!
