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Google Home ‘Live Search’ uses AI to watch your home and answer questions in real-time [Gallery]

Recent updates to Google Home have delivered a handy new feature for Nest Cam owners which allows you to ask questions and get answers based on Google’s AI watching your home in real-time.

Rolling out alongside a slew of other smart home updates, Google Home “Live Search” can now constantly monitor your camera feeds and, with a quick question, you can get answers based on that real-time data.

Google explains:

For users subscribed to the advanced plan of Google Home Premium, you can now “Live Search” your camera streams to understand the current state of your home. Previously, searching cameras was limited to past events.

With Google Home’s latest app update (4.10.57 for Android) now widely available, we’ve been able to try this out in action.

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Through the usual “Ask Home” search bar, you can ask a question about what’s currently happening in or around your home, and Gemini will scan through all of your live video feeds to figure out the answer.

I tested this by asking “Where are the dogs right now?” to which it correctly answered that they were in the living room on the couch – though, notably, only one of the two dogs was on the couch, with the other elsewhere in the room. Another test that came to mind was “Is the oven on?” Gemini responded to this by saying it couldn’t check based on the camera view alone, which is absolutely the correct response. In some other test queries such as “Is there anyone outside my house?,” Gemini also pulled up relevant clips from the past couple of hours on top of reporting the current conditions.

While quickly parsing through your camera feeds will more than likely still be faster for most users, this could certainly be useful for homes with a large number of cameras, or for specific questions, especially as it seems to integrate both with real-time live footage as well as past events.

Google Home has rolled this out to Premium subscribers will Nest cameras with the latest app update.

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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

Find him on Twitter @NexusBen. Send tips to schoon@9to5g.com or encrypted to benschoon@protonmail.com.