Your Philips Hue Smart Lighting Just Got An Upgrade, If You Meet The Requirements

Philips Hue offers some of the best smart lights for your home office, living room, or pretty much anywhere else in your house. However, setting up complex automations for them can be a bit tedious, as it means spending an hour diving into endless menus. But now you can forget about that. Philips Hue just announced that its latest update has a new feature called Custom AI Behaviors, and it's supposed to make fast work of creating automations. Now, instead of fussing with complex automation rules, you can just tell the app what you want it to do using natural language.

Want the lights in your hallway to turn a dim amber hue whenever you walk by the motion sensors after dark? Just type that into the Philips Hue app. The system's new built-in AI can take whatever you type in and build an automation sequence for it, making it easy to get creative with smart lights around your house. Creating super specific lighting scenes for any scenario is now as easy as firing off a quick text message.

Putting AI into smart home gadgets like bulbs offers a way to more easily play around with and set up automations. For users who enjoy all the color options that Philips Hue bulbs offer, but who aren't comfortable tackling automations for whatever reason, the company's new AI feature makes setting them up far more approachable and fun. However, accessing this feature comes with a significant hardware caveat that might leave some longtime users in the dark.

While the upgrade sounds equal parts whimsical and helpful, there is a serious catch for anyone interested in it. These new Custom AI Behaviors are strictly limited to networks running the newer Hue Bridge Pro. If you're using the older white, square-shaped Hue Bridge v2, those conversational prompts are flat-out off the table. This restriction locks countless users out of this fun update unless they buy a new hub.

From a purely technical perspective, the hardware divide makes total sense. The standard hub is older and has more limitations, capping out at 50 lights and 12 accessories. Meanwhile, the newer Pro model is far more of a powerhouse, easily managing over 150 lights and more than 50 accessories, like sensors. It's actually capable of processing natural language requests and juggling all of those devices and automations, as it has more computing muscle; the older v2 hardware simply doesn't.

Making the choice to upgrade to the Bridge Pro is a no-brainer if you're already hitting the v2 device limits. Plus, gaining access to the app's conversational AI assistant just sweetens the deal, especially if you're the type who loves trying new smart home automations. But for casual users rocking a couple of lamps in their living room and bedroom, shelling out for this professional-grade hardware is likely a tough sell.