Chefling, the Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)-driven sous chef for the smart kitchen, has been evolving and expanding for a while, and now it looks like it might have a permanent home with one of the world’s biggest appliance manufacturers, GE Appliances. At CES, the budding smart kitchen assistant will expand its partnership with the global manufacturer to allow Chefling’s UltraConnect wireless connectivity technology to integrate with GE connected appliances on iOS and Android devices, starting with GE’s Connected Microwave and Oven.
More CES 2019 coverage
- D-Link shows off smart plugs and water sensor at CES 2019
- Kasa Smart debuts A.I.-based smart home platform with security and lighting
- Breadbot is an autonomous bakery in a box, coming to a grocery near you
It’s not too clear what kind of wireless technology is driving Chefling’s UltraConnect system but it seems to be pretty robust, with the ability to communicate with multiple appliances and voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home simultaneously. The Chefling UltraConnect is meant to act as a hands-free kitchen helper to streamline the cooking experience.
The A.I.-driven assistance can also pull off some awfully cool tricks, like extracting information from recipes such as oven temperature and cooking time and automatically coordinating with GE’s connected smart devices.
“We’re one step closer to our vision of a smarter, more effortless cooking experience with this partnership,” said Amar Krishna, co-Founder of Chefling in a release. “Integrating GE Appliances’ connected products into our UltraConnect™ ecosystem will introduce new cooking applications that weren’t possible before.”
In its more basic version, the app can serve up the best recipes that consumers can make based on what they have in the kitchen, while also minimizing trips to the grocery store and using up ingredients while they’re still fresh. Once cooking has begun, users can use the new UltraConnect functions in the Chefling app to adjust temperature, mode, and timing of GE’s growing line of smart home appliances to match the recipe instructions.
“At GE Appliances, we are in continuous pursuit of developing exciting and innovative products that are built to perform in modern kitchens and deliver new value to our customers,” said Shawn Stover, Vice President of SmartHome Solutions for GE. “This is why we are excited to add UltraConnect capabilities to our connected microwave and oven lineup. This is another great example of how partners like Chefling are helping us transform the cooking experience with A.I. and automation.”
GE’s investment in smart home technology has been particularly focused on the kitchen, giving owners new ways to monitor and maintain their home appliances both at home and remotely via the company’s U+ Connect platform that integrates with a wide variety of smart assistants and kitchen services like Amazon’s Dash replenishment service and culinary GPS app Innit.
