Philips Hue founder says AI lighting updates are “a bit of a game changer”

At the showcase, Philips Hue presented new hardware, including more artistic lights and lower-cost TV syncing devices, and explained software updates that will change how users interact with lighting. Yianni said Philips Hue has tried to avoid “AI for the sake of it.” He noted that large language models are particularly good at turning unstructured information into structured instructions, which guided where the company applied AI.

The first example Yianni cited was SpatialAware, launched last year. He said Philips Hue worked with lighting designers to produce rules, tools and training data for a large language model, codifying the lighting design process at scale. The feature takes unstructured details about where lights are located in a room, applies lighting design rules and color-complement principles, and lets a user describe a wanted scene in everyday language. “It’s really not something you could have done any other way,” he said.

The second example, Custom AI Behaviors, made its debut at this year’s event. Users can describe in natural language how they want Philips Hue lights to behave, such as treating weekends differently from weekdays or adjusting scenes at sunset. Yianni said a conventional interface with buttons, toggles and menus could not cover every possible automation preference. “Natural language is a fantastic way to just describe arbitrarily how you would like your home to behave,” he said, adding that AI translates the request into a specialized programming language that runs automation in the Philips Hue Bridge.

When asked which announcement excited him most personally, Yianni highlighted entertainment products, especially the Philips Hue Play Screen Sync. Designed for people who watch TV through native smart-TV apps rather than an HDMI source, the system uses a camera with a fish-eye lens to detect what is on screen and sync those colors with a light strip behind the television. It does not require a Hue Bridge, and it can be used with a single light strip over Bluetooth. Philips Hue also introduced a more affordable 4K version of its Play HDMI Sync Box for HDMI users, and that version also works with one Hue light without a Bridge.

Yianni also said he was particularly proud of the progress the brand has made with artificial intelligence so far.