Quite a few Reddit customers say that Google’s good house ecosystem is falling aside — one other casualty of what’s been dubbed “enshittification.” A July 21 Reddit thread has drawn lots of of feedback from customers venting about how unreliable Google House good audio system and hubs have grow to be lately.
“We had run with Google House, nevertheless it’s been on its method out for nearly two years,” one person wrote. “I solely attempt to do the very fundamentals with mine now, and I’m pleased to have lighting, shops, and inaccurate climate.”
Different Redditors echoed these frustrations: voice instructions being misheard, delayed responses, multi-room speaker setups breaking, and fundamental performance deteriorating. Options that when “simply labored” now incessantly don’t.
So what’s going improper?
Google is reportedly pursuing AI licensing offers with information publishers
Getting old {hardware} may very well be guilty for some person complaints. In April, Google formally dropped replace assist for its first- and second-generation Nest thermostats to concentrate on newer fashions. Across the identical time, it additionally minimize off assist for third-party good shows. One other concept factors to Google’s growing reliance on AI within the good house expertise — significantly how giant language fashions like Gemini are much less adept at understanding context.
Mashable Mild Pace
In response to Mashable’s questions, a Google consultant pointed us to an X submit by Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer of Google House and Nest, who responded on to the complaints:
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Kattukaran added, “We hear you loud and clear and are dedicated to getting this proper — and ensuring we’ve a long run resolution that gives higher reliability and functionality. We’ve been actively engaged on main enhancements for someday and could have extra to share within the fall.”
For customers watching their gadgets quietly degrade over time, their concern is evident: what was as soon as a dependable good house platform now looks like a gradual, silent phase-out.
“One of the best instance of this, for me, is asking ‘what’s this music?’ whereas I’ve music taking part in,” one person defined. “Initially, the assistant understood I used to be listening to music and would inform me what was taking part in. After some backend change years in the past, it simply began telling me that ‘This Track’ is a observe by George Harrison.”
That shift displays a identified weak point in fashionable giant language fashions like Gemini: restricted context home windows, which prohibit their potential to deal with ongoing, situational interactions.
“I assure they’ll shove Gemini into all the prevailing Google House issues,” one other person complained. “After which as a substitute of 25% of the time getting an error, you’ll get ‘I’m sorry however I’m simply a big language mannequin and can’t assist that characteristic but’ 60% of the time.”
