Many smart appliance makers’ apps still require that you tap buttons to control your home, but not LG’s. It’s introducing Google Assistant-powered voice control to its ThinQ app (previously SmartThinQ) to steer all its connected appliances, whether it’s an oven, fridge or washing machine. Yes, you can already use Assistant outside of the app, but this gives you more flexibility — you have both voice and manual control in a central place. You could check the exact time left on the washer while telling the AC to set a new temperature.

Similarly, the LG Neural Engine is intended to process image and voice data even when it’s not connected to the cloud. That means a device with the chip could recognize its environment and adjust settings accordingly, navigate through a place it hasn’t been before and understand a user’s commands in natural language — all offline. LG also claims powerful security is built in — with all the data it takes in, resisting hackers who could remotely control a unit or use your washing machine’s sensors to violate your privacy would an unwanted outcome.

The Korean company has been investing heavily in AI, most recently opening a new research lab in Toronto to follow its other North American location in Silicon Valley, so while this may be a first, it’s definitely not the last thing we’ll hear about LG and AI.