You can really unleash a lot of creativity: Philips Hue founder George Yianni explains why its AI upgrades will be genuinely useful and 'a bit of a game changer'

Date:
Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:54:08 +0000

Description:
The brand's founder and CTO explains why artificial intelligence and home lighting are a perfect fit, and what he's most excited about next.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter George Yianni is excited about the future of smart lighting, and his enthusiasm is infectious. As the Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Philips Hue , Yianni has seen smart home tech move from niche to mainstream and he has a clear vision for how you'll be lighting your home in years to come.

On September 2, Philips Hue held its annual showcase event in Berlin, just around the corner from the IFA tech expo. There, Yianni and other senior figures took to the stage to show off the brand's latest hardware (including some particularly artistic new lights and more affordable syncing devices), and to explain how new software developments will change how we all interact with lighting in the coming months. After the event I had the opportunity to speak with Yianni, and to delve deeper into how Hue (and its parent company SIgnify) has identified practical uses for AI that aren't just a gimmick. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

"Theres a push for AI for the sake of it, and weve really tried to shy away from that," he told me. "AI large language models are really good at processing the unstructured information and turning it into something structured, and vice versa, and thats really where we applied it."

The first example he gave was SpatialAware a feature that launched last
year, which creates lighting scenes and applies them based on the position of lights in your room. You may like Philips Hue unveils new lamps, upgraded candle bulbs, and smarter switches to upgrade your lighting Skip the pricey Sync Box this new Philips Hue system uses a camera to sync lights with your screen Should I buy Philips Hue Essential bulbs? Here's what you need to know

Theres a push for AI for the sake of it, and weve really tried to shy away from that George Yianni "Were applying AI as a tool to deliver
functionality," Yianni explained. "So what we launched last year is, we spent quite some time with our lighting designers to produce the right set of
rules, tools, and training towards a large language model to codify and scale the lighting design process."

"So it can take all the unstructured information of where lights are in
space, lighting design rules, and what colors look complementary, and then expose that to the user in a general way, so they can describe anything they want, and it uses its world knowledge and this lighting design skill set weve given it to generate new lighting design scenes for them. Its really not something you could have done any other way." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Yianni doesn't want to bring AI into your
home just for the sake of it only when it's the right tool to solve a
problem (Image credit: Signify) The second example, which debuted at this year's event, is Custom AI Behaviors . This lets you use natural language to describe how you want your Philips Hue lights to behave. For example, you can ask them to behave differently on weekends and weekdays, or change scenes automatically at sunset all without fiddling around with complex settings.

"There are so many different diversities and details about how a consumer might want their home to behave that we cannot build a user interface with buttons, toggles, dropdown menus for every possibility, and thats why we put some limitations around automations to this point," Yianni explained. "Otherwise, the user interface would be impossible for most users.

Natural language is a fantastic way to just describe arbitrarily how you
would like your home to behave George Yianni "But natural language is a fantastic way to just describe arbitrarily how you would like your home to behave, and then we can use AI to translate that into a special programming language weve developed that runs the automation in the Bridge. So its a fantastic way to capture intent and translate into something we can just run in the background, and again, AI is the right tool to do that. What to read next The best smart lights in 2026: smart lighting for every home Layered lighting will bring your home to life here's how to try it Which Philips Hue lights do I need? Here's my simple guide to the smart lighting range

"We think of AI as a tool to be used to solve problems, and often its not the right tool, and then we dont do it that way. But there are definitely are
good use cases, and I think more in the works, which take advantage of it." Exciting developments The Philips Hue event was packed with new
announcements, so I took the opportunity to ask Yianni which one he was most excited about personally. For him, accessibility was one of the biggest
draws.

"It's a little bit difficult to choose, because I think we've made some great products for users that don't have smart lights yet," he said. "I think what we've done with entertainment is super exciting, to just make it so that even if people don't want a smart lighting system, they just want it around [their TV]. Now we give you a very simple, easy to use and understand kit that gives it to you."

This system is the Philips Hue Play Screen Sync, which is designed for people who aren't using an HDMI source for their TV, and may be using a native smart TV app, for example. Screen Sync uses a camera with a fish-eye lens to
monitor what's on the screen, and then synchronize those colors with a light strip behind the TV. You don't have to invest in a Philips Hue Bridge to use Screen Sync either you can use it with a single light strip via Bluetooth if you're not interested in a full Philips Hue setup.

If you do use an HDMI source for your TV, there's now a more affordable 4K version of the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which also works with a single Hue light and no Bridge. Signify has launched an affordable Philips Hue Play Sync Box 4K, which can be used with a single Philips Hue light via Bluetooth, without a Hue Bridge device (Image credit: Signify) Yianni is also particularly proud of what the brand has achieved so far with artificial intelligence. "I think for our install base of users and for ourselves as users of Hue personally, the AI automations are a bit of a game changer," he said. "I now can finally have my home behave exactly the way I wanted to. I think that's a really big deal.

"So I'm a bit torn between those two, right? For me, it's AI automations, but I think for our business and for our overall mission of getting people to use lights in a in a richer way than just being on or off, I think the the bridge-less entertainment with just becomes so much easier to to step in with just that use case, which is a great way to start."

You can really unleash a lot of creativity in users George Yianni When it comes to the lights themselves, though, Yianni has a clear favorite: the
Liane 360-degree rope light (pictured at the top of this article), which
users can drape in any way they like, and which projects light around its whole circumference.

"I think it's hard to beat the statement of Liane," he told me. "I think it's really taking what we offer in a in a new direction, where you can really unleash a lot of creativity in users because it's really a product which has
a lot of different ways of it being applied. I think it's something quite unique that doesn't exist in the world yet.

"Yeah, these as they omnidirectional rope lights exist in architectural lighting, but I really think we we add a new element of depth to it by making it controllable and having these subtle gradients that we can put on it. I think that's really exciting. It's something that doesn't exist in the world yet, and really adds something to an existing trend. I think that I think the most exciting lighting model."

I'm hoping to test the Liane rope light very soon to see whether it meets those expectations, so watch this space. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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