Smart lighting brand Yilai recently released an open capability called MCP.
Simply put, it means opening up equipment, space, and scene capabilities to third parties and the AI ecosystem through standard protocols.
On the surface, this action is a technological upgrade.
But it exposed the core direction of change in the smart home industry in the next ten years: the value of equipment is migrating from “independent functions” to “collaborative capabilities.”
Independent functions are depreciating, and collaborative capabilities are skyrocketing.
When AI becomes the intelligent brain of the whole house, all devices in the home will divide into two roles.
The first type: central AI.
The core value is “thinking”.
Can understand vague needs such as “I want to go to bed” and translate them into precise instructions – turn off the lights, draw the curtains, adjust the air conditioner, and turn on the security.
It does not need to be able to turn lights on and off, but it needs to accurately schedule every device that can turn lights on and off.
Second type: execution device.
Switches, lamps, curtain motors, sensors.
Their core value is no longer how powerful their functions are, but “obedience” – being able to be accurately understood by AI, respond quickly, and execute with certainty.
The quality of a device no longer depends on how many functions it has, but on whether it can be accurately scheduled by AI.
This is “collaborative value” – the ability of equipment to be accurately identified, accurately understood, and scheduled in the AI ecosystem.
This is the core competitiveness in the next ten years.
In the past, when buying equipment, I focused on whether it had many functions.
How many switches are controlled?
Can the color temperature of the lamp be adjusted?
Do the curtains have hand pulls to activate them?
This is “independent value” – what you can do determines how much it is worth.
In the AI era, this logic has been completely overturned.
Users no longer control the device directly, but through AI control.
Say “I’m going to sleep” and AI will automatically take care of everything.
He doesn’t need to know which switch controls which light.
The individual functions of the device become irrelevant – the user doesn’t care how many controls the switch has, because they never directly manipulate it.
Devices are no longer islands, but synergies.
This collaborative capability is the core value of future smart homes.
A device that obeys absolutely and performs accurately is far more valuable than a device that is powerful but does not obey commands.
Just like an army, a general needs soldiers who can follow orders and prohibitions, not masters who can do their own thing.
In the future, it’s not about how many smart devices you buy, but how well the devices “understand” AI.
Yilai’s opening of MCP is essentially improving the “synergy value” of the device.
Developers can use the MCP interface to call devices, rooms, and situational capabilities in real homes to create a more accurate AI automation experience.
In the eyes of AI large models, Yilai equipment is no longer a “deaf-mute” that cannot understand, but a “standard part” that can be accurately dispatched.
Yilai no longer needs to compete for parameters and prices. The value is no longer reflected in the lamp itself, but the ecological synergy behind the lamp.
Transform from “selling hardware” to “providing collaborative capabilities” AI ecological infrastructure.
This transformation gives it an advantage in future competition.
This trend is a revelation to everyone.
For hardware manufacturers, the research and development direction is no longer to pile up functions, but to make devices easier to understand by AI.
Optimizing protocols, aligning object models, and ensuring “plug and play” have become the most popular “standard parts” in the AI ecosystem.
Agents, product selection standards must be upgraded.
In the past, we looked at price, functions, and looks; now add one more: How is the AI compatibility?
Can it be accurately scheduled by the mainstream AI ecosystem?
If the selected equipment cannot efficiently cooperate with AI, after the customer upgrades the AI center, these equipment will become “deaf and mute” in the eyes of AI.
The value of future smart homes does not lie in a single device, but in the collaboration of the entire system.
The premise of collaboration is that each device can be accurately scheduled by the central AI.
The smart home industry is shifting from “strengthening independent functions” to “strengthening collaborative value.”
In the past, equipment was the protagonist and AI was a supporting role; in the future, AI is the protagonist and equipment is a supporting role.
AI becomes the intelligent brain of the whole house, and the devices are just the senses, hands and feet that follow instructions.
The brain continues to evolve in the cloud, and the hands and feet perform stably on site.
What the industry needs to do is to ensure that this system can be perfectly installed, debugged, and operated in every customer’s home, and to provide reliable after-sales service.
Make delivery your core competitiveness.
This sentence will have more weight in the AI era.
