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Home Assistant founder Paulus Schoutsen has taken a bold step to protect the future of the popular smart home platform by creating the Open Home Foundation. This newly formed non-profit organization will now own and govern all of Home Assistant and its related entities, with Schoutsen and other key members of the Home Assistant team serving as inaugural board members.
The foundation’s mission is clear: to combat surveillance capitalism and provide a counterbalance to Big Tech influence in the smart home industry. By focusing on privacy, choice, and sustainability for smart home users, the Open Home Foundation aims to uphold the open-source, open-standard ideals that Home Assistant was built upon.
With an estimated one million users, Home Assistant has established itself as a powerful and flexible platform for smart home automation. However, Schoutsen acknowledges that the platform has yet to reach mainstream adoption due to its steep learning curve and complex setup process. Despite these challenges, Home Assistant is poised for growth, especially with the recent involvement in the industry-backed smart home standard Matter.
To propel Home Assistant into the mainstream, the foundation has outlined a roadmap for the platform’s future development. This includes the launch of the Home Assistant Green smart home hub on Amazon, a new line of Home Assistant Connect dongles, and the expansion of the Works With Home Assistant program to certify more products as compatible with the platform.
Additionally, Home Assistant is working on developing its own voice control hardware device and incorporating local AI models into the platform for faster and more efficient smart home automation. The goal is to make Home Assistant a consumer-friendly brand that prioritizes privacy and sustainability in the smart home industry.
Through the establishment of the Open Home Foundation, Home Assistant is not only safeguarding its core values but also positioning itself for growth and innovation in the competitive smart home market. With a strong focus on privacy, choice, and sustainability, Home Assistant is poised to become a leading player in the smart home industry.