The LG ThinQ ON AI Brings “Affectionate Intelligence” into Matter Home Hubs

The unveiling of the LG ThinQ ON AI home hub has been teased by the South Korean electronics manufacturer ahead of the IFA 2024 tech show in Berlin, Germany.

LG’s exposure to Matter has been limited to date, with just a handful of webOS-loaded smart TVs capable of acting as hubs via the ThinQ mobile app. However, the ThinQ ON AI home hub might change this, if only by redefining its featured artificial intelligence offering as “affectionate intelligence.”

Smart home technology and artificial seem like a good match, so what is LG offering with this hub, and can other Matter-supporting manufacturers follow suit?

What Does the LG ThinQ ON AI Actually Do?

Like other smart home hubs, the LG ThinQ ON AI is a puck-shaped piece of kit that provides a center for your smart equipment. It supports Matter (we think Matter 1.3, the latest iteration), which means that it should work well with the latest smart home devices, regardless of manufacturer.

And, in fairness, that is standard fare for Matter gear. The Aqara Hub M3 is a good example of what a standalone Matter hub (as opposed to one built into a TV) should do.

But the LG ThinQ ON AI has a special power. Beyond Wi-Fi and Thread and the ability to connect to Matter and Zigbee and Z-Wave devices, the LG ThinQ ON AI features “affectionate intelligence.”

This is basically generative AI that is optimized to have a more natural conversation. LG expects this to make interactions with devices more natural, both in terms of giving instructions, and receiving confirmation.

However, LG already has a big smart home environment of its own, having purchased Athom in July 2024. This resulted in the Homey Pro smart home hub becoming part of LG. If LG plans to unify its smart home operations around Matter, as seems likely, it would make sense to leverage that device’s support for over 50,000 devices.

What Impact Can the LG ThinQ ON AI Have?

The AI element of the LG ThinQ ON AI is really an attempt to set the hub apart from competitors like Samsung SmartThings. Whether it is capable of creating the impression of a natural conversation, however, remains to be seen.

At the time of writing, no price has been announced for the LG ThinQ ON AI. We’re expecting that around the time of IFA, which runs 6-10 September, 2024.

Is Conversational AI the Future of Matter Smart Home Hubs?

LG’s new smart home hub marks its most significant entry into the Matter arena. It’s a compact-looking puck with the expected Wi-Fi and Thread, and while the specific versions is not mentioned, we imagine it is Matter 1.3 compatible, and ready for upgrade to the next iteration when that lands. Via the ThinQ app, it should be ready to connect to any Matter-compatible IoT and smart home equipment on your network, thereby future-proofing your setup.

Having a smart home hub with integrated voice assistance makes sense, but often it can be difficult to illicit a response. From personal experience, using an app is faster than asking for the lights to dim, but then perhaps that’s down to my accent.

The idea of a conversational approach to smart assistants is nice enough, but will LG’s affectionate intelligence really offer the illusion of complete understanding? Or will it stumble over broad accents and dialects and send users back to the app?