Google Opens Smart Homes to Rival AI Agents, Betting on Platform Power Instead

In September 2026, Google announced early access to its Google Home Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, which allows external Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents such as Claude, OpenClaw, and Google’s own Antigravity to interact directly with devices connected to the Google Home hub. Through MCP, agents can discover devices, monitor activities in real time, analyze events, and execute supported device controls.

This represents a notable change in Google’s smart home strategy. Rather than requiring consumers to interact primarily through Gemini for Home, Google is permitting external AI platforms to sit on top of its smart home infrastructure. The move effectively separates the AI layer from the smart home platform layer, allowing Google Home to remain relevant even when the consumer-facing AI is provided by a third-party vendor.

Opening Google Home to competing AI agents reduces Google’s control over the consumer-facing intelligence layer but potentially strengthens its position as the underlying smart home platform. Google currently gives developers access to more than 750 million devices, alongside Google Home hubs, Matter infrastructure, and its automation engine. This provides a substantial installed base that third-party developers and AI agents can build upon.

This creates a strategic trade-off for Google. ABI Research forecasts smart home device shipments to continue expanding from 1.1 billion devices in 2026 to 1.5 billion devices in 2031, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.9%. Hence, the value of controlling the infrastructure connecting consumers, devices, and applications, is likely to increase as the smart home ecosystem expands.

Google is shifting from an ecosystem model where Gemini needs to be the intelligence layer, to a platform model where Google Home becomes the infrastructure layer that any AI can use. As more AI agents integrate with Google Home, developers and device manufacturers can reach users across multiple AI experiences through a single platform integration, increasing the attractiveness of Google’s ecosystem. This could create a network effect in which Google gains platform reach even when it does not own the AI experience.

The strategy also reduces Google's dependence on Gemini becoming the dominant smart home assistant. Even if consumers increasingly use third-party AI agents, Google can still maintain an important position by providing the infrastructure that connects those agents to devices and smart home services. By opening Google Home to these agents, Google can instead position itself as the infrastructure through which multiple AI platforms access the physical home. Google’s initiative demonstrates a clear move toward positioning Google Home as an AI-agnostic platform, similar to how Android is serving as an underlying platform for applications and services.

As smart home ecosystems look to integrate more Agentic AI capabilities, industry participants should reassess where long-term value creation will occur. Google's decision to open Google Home to third-party AI agents suggests that smart home platform ownership may become more strategically important than maintaining exclusive control over the AI interface, creating new opportunities and risks across the smart home value chain.

In ABI Research’s opinion, Google’s current strategy is the right one to make. By making Google Home AI-agnostic, Google can attract more AI developers and device manufacturers to its platform while allowing Gemini to compete on the quality of the AI experience rather than through exclusive access to the home. Google should therefore prioritize expanding the Home Application Programming Interface (API), MCP capabilities, and developer tools, while maintaining strict controls over permissions, privacy, and security as more AI agents gain access to physical devices.

Competing smart home incumbents such as Amazon, Samsung, and Apple should reassess whether keeping the AI interface tightly controlled provides greater strategic value than opening their smart home infrastructure to third-party agents. As AI agents become more interchangeable, platforms that provide broad device access, developer tools, and reliable infrastructure could capture more value from the growing agentic smart home ecosystem. Their response should focus on strengthening the underlying platform and developer ecosystem rather than simply adding competing AI features.

Smaller device vendors should avoid treating AI agents as the primary platform decision. Instead, manufacturers should prioritize smart home platforms with broad device interoperability, accessible APIs, and support for multiple AI interfaces. This would allow vendors to benefit from the growth of agentic smart home experiences without becoming dependent on a single AI provider or assistant.

Ultimately, the emergence of agentic smart homes is likely to shift competition away from AI assistant capabilities alone and toward the platforms that connect AI agents, devices, and consumers. Companies that can provide broad interoperability, trusted device access, and strong developer ecosystems may be well-positioned as smart home ecosystems become increasingly dependent on AI agents. Google's latest move reflects this transition and may provide some indication of the direction that the wider smart home industry is moving toward.