Walking into the LG booth at IFA is like stepping into a scene from The Jetsons. You’re greeted with four examples of an integrated AI smart home, filled with concept and consumer devices working in tandem. You’ll find washing machines that know you’ve been to tennis practice, and automatically pick the appropriate wash setting, little AI guys that wind you down for bed, and televisions that recognise your voice and adjust themselves based on your preferences. It is seamless, human, and futuristic all at once. A perfect encapsulation of LG’s preferred AI acronym - Affectionate Intelligence.
That homely Jetson feeling didn’t come by accident - LG partnered with best selling Korean sci-fi author Kim Choyeop to curate these spaces. Choyeop is known for her compassionate science fiction stories that draw on human empathy and compassion in a futuristic world. In an interview with K-Book Trends, the author spoke about using sci-fi to expand the scope of social imagination and empathy.
LG’s approach to AI has been centered around these same ideals; empathy and care. These look different depending on which AI home you slide into at the booth. The Second Youth Home is all about minimising chores, and enriching your leisure time. Using conversational prompts through the new ThinQ ON home hub, this home takes prompts from your conversations to inform other tasks around the house. Say the word tennis, and the washing machine knows you’ll need a heftier cycle when you get home.
The Affectionate Home zone focuses more on children and pets - instead using its Little AI Guy named The Self-Driving AI Home Hub. While the name won’t instil your maternal instinct, its adorable mannerisms just might. With big blinking eyes that affectionately respond to human touch this little guy can adjust settings to a range of connected IoT devices.
Despite how polished, and curated these home-scapes look, they still manage to hold on to some human characteristics. An air purifier that doubles as a seat for your cat, conversational chat history, your little AI guy saying good night before closing their virtual eyes. This isn’t the case for every application of AI however. Choyeop’s stories tend to take place in worlds where efficiency supersedes humanity. In some ways, it is very much the world we are living in right now. Since Chat GPT took off in 2023 we have seen the publishing world decimated; plagued by AI content ripped straight from the work of talented writers and artists. Thousands of people have lost their jobs globally with many of their work being streamlined into AI systems.
Choyeop’s protagonists challenge change that promotes function over feelings, and LG’s AI smart homes have taken on the same empathetic approach. While these concept homes are meant to increase efficiency, it isn’t for the purpose of perpetual growth. It is to allow for further human connection. This fictional experience that LG and Choyeop have created challenges the idea that we need to connect with AI, instead showing that it can be used so that we can connect with each other.
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