Hue Says Custom AI Behaviors Arrive This Week, on the Bridge Pro Only

The short version: if you have a Hue Bridge Pro, Hue says a new way to build automations is scheduled to reach the Hue app this week. It is not live yet as of this writing. An automation is a rule that changes your lights on its own, like a scene at sunset. With this feature you type what you want and Hue’s AI assistant turns it into one. The automation runs on the bridge in your house. The typing part goes through Hue’s cloud. If you have the regular Hue Bridge, you don’t get it.

Which bridge is this for: the Bridge Pro is Hue’s newer hub. It is a different box from the regular Hue Bridge that comes in most starter kits. This feature is not coming to the regular bridge.

What’s known and what isn’t: writing or changing a behavior goes through Hue’s cloud, so it presumably needs an internet connection; Hue hasn’t said whether it needs a Hue account. Nothing announced so far says it costs extra. Whether Hubitat or Home Assistant can see these behaviors is unknown, and I’ll update this when Hue says.

What to do: if you have a Bridge Pro, check the Hue app this week for the new option. If you don’t, there’s nothing to do, and no purchase is needed unless you want this feature.

Philips Hue announced Custom AI Behaviors at IFA on September 3 and said it would ship in early October (Signify). It didn’t. On October 21 Philips Hue told Hueblog that Custom AI Behaviors were scheduled for the following week, meaning the week of October 26, on the Bridge Pro (Hueblog).

Separately, a bridge update has already shipped. Bridge firmware is the software that runs inside the bridge itself, apart from the phone app. Bridge Pro firmware 6.3.2071556020, dated October 22, says it prepares the bridge for Custom AI Behaviors and that the feature “will be enabled in the app in the coming days” (Hue release notes). So the firmware is out, and the app feature is not. Hue rolls firmware out gradually, so it may take a while to reach your bridge. The regular Bridge got a bug-fix update at the same time and nothing else (Hueblog).

What it does

Signify says the feature allows automations that weren’t possible in the Hue app before. You describe what you want and the assistant builds it out of triggers, conditions, and light actions. Hue’s examples:

• A switch or motion sensor that acts differently on weekends.
• A scene that turns on when it gets dark, whatever time that is.
• A scene that turns on when your TV or PC light sync (Hue Sync) starts.
• The On button of a dimmer, after 8 p.m., turning on a dining room scene and cycling through three scenes with each press (Hueblog).

You type the request, and the app shows what it built so you can accept or adjust it. You can go back and change a behavior later. Hue’s head of technology told The Verge that every light, button press, sensor event, and time the bridge knows about can be used, and that the limit before was building a screen for all of it, not what the bridge could do. That’s Hue’s claim; I haven’t tested it (The Verge).

A smaller change came first. The September 24 Bridge Pro update made every button on every Hue switch support the same actions, including press-and-hold scenes and dimming from any button (Hue release notes).

What’s local and what isn’t

According to The Verge, the automation engine and the automations run on the Bridge Pro, and the AI assistant runs in the cloud. Hue wrote a simple programming language that the cloud assistant uses to describe your automation to the bridge. Hue’s head of technology told The Verge it’s built on open-weight models, ones Hue controls, so its behavior doesn’t change when an outside company updates a model.

So the part you depend on day to day, the automation firing when you press a button or a sensor trips, runs on the bridge. Creating or changing one needs Hue’s cloud. Nothing I found says whether a finished behavior keeps working with the internet down. The Verge’s description suggests it would, but Hue hasn’t said. That’s untested, and I’ll update this when it’s known.

I probably wouldn’t build or use this. Ecosystems are much wider than just Hue now, so I want one place where I build everything, all my systems in one app.

What it doesn’t answer yet

None of Hue’s announcements say whether these behaviors show up in the bridge’s local API, the connection other systems on your home network use to talk to the bridge. Hubitat and Home Assistant both talk to the Hue bridge locally, so Hubitat and Home Assistant would likely only see the lights change. The Verge reports the engine will be opened to third-party developers, with no date. Until that happens, a behavior built in the Hue app is one more place an automation can live, separate from your hub.

That matters if you already run automations on a hub. Two systems reacting to the same Hue device can fight each other. For example, if Home Assistant and a Hue behavior both react to the same dimmer button, one press could set two different scenes. If you try this, keep track of which automations live where.

Hue’s release notes for the feature don’t mention a subscription. Hue hasn’t said whether a Hue account is required.

Do you need a Bridge Pro for this

You need one for this feature, and it’s a separate purchase from the regular bridge (Philips Hue). The Verge reports it needs the Bridge Pro’s processing power and won’t work on other Hue bridges.

If your Hue automations already live in Hubitat or Home Assistant, this isn’t a reason to upgrade on its own. Those hubs can already be set up to do weekend rules, darkness-based scenes, and multi-press buttons.

I’ll probably upgrade to the Hue Bridge Pro at some point.

Also coming from Hue

• Sonos control from Hue switches, planned for November. Selected switches, including the Tap Dial, can play Sonos Favorites, play or pause, change volume, and skip tracks without opening an app (Signify). Hue hasn’t said which bridges it needs.
• Backup and Restore, no date. Signify says it’s in development with no date; The Verge reports Hue teased early next year. Restore starts on the Bridge Pro only. Hueblog, cited by Android Authority, says backups are manual, one per bridge, kept up to a year, and can be restored to the same or a different bridge (Android Authority).

Cloud backup doesn’t really interest me, but a local backup does.

As of this writing the feature is scheduled, not live in the app. I’ll add a note here once it shows up in the app.