Google lets any AI assistant control your smart home

Your smart home is about to get more flexible

Google has announced a big change: it's letting AI assistants made by other companies — not just Google's own — take control of your smart home. This means tools like Claude (made by Anthropic) and others can now manage your lights, thermostats, door locks, and other connected devices, all through a new system called Home MCP.

But what does this actually mean? Think of an AI agent as a helpful digital assistant that understands your requests and takes action on your behalf. Until now, Google Home mostly worked only with Google's own AI tools. Now, you could ask any compatible AI assistant to turn on your lights, check if your front door is locked, or adjust your heating — and it would work seamlessly with all your existing Google Home devices.

How it works: A common language for AI

The key to making this possible is something called the Model Context Protocol (MCP) — basically a standardized "language" that different AI assistants can use to understand and control smart home devices. Instead of each AI tool needing its own custom connection to Google Home, they all speak the same language. According to Taylor Lehman, a product manager at Google Home, this approach keeps everything secure while giving you more choice about which AI assistant you want running your home.

Why this matters

For most people, this is good news. You're no longer locked into using one company's AI tools. If you prefer Claude or another assistant for other tasks, you can now use it to control your home too. It's about flexibility and choice — the same reason we like being able to choose different apps on our phones rather than being forced to use only what comes pre-installed.