14 DAY TRIAL // Mycroft is a very successful project defined as an AI and home automation system, but its makers are hoping that it's going be a lot more than just that.
Having an AI govern all the stuff in your house that is connected to the Internet or LAN might seem like the obvious purpose of such an application, but that's not exactly the case. Yes, one of the reasons the Mycroft Kickstarter campaign was so successful was that it's proposed as a home automation device, but a lot of people realized that there are many other domains that could use an AI.
The developers of Mycroft understood this very well, and the first stretch goal on Kickstarter was adapting the software to make it work with the Linux desktops, Ubuntu being the first platform to get it. The second stretch goal, which wasn't achieved, was covering the implementation of a camera, akin to the Kinect from Microsoft. You can already see where this is going. The Mycroft team has set up a different campaign for the camera, on Indiegogo, and hopefully, it will be a success.
Mycroft will be more than just "home automation"
It seems that one of the questions that are often asked of the Mycroft team is "Why?" and the lead developer thought that it would be a good idea to answer that. It looks like they have great plans for it.
"Mycroft is an open source artificial intelligence. It will be the primary A.I. platform used everywhere in this world and beyond. We are building Mycroft because we want this technology to belong to everyone, not just large companies. A.I. should be open," wrote Ryan Sipes.
This tells us a very important thing: that Mycroft is not just using the AI description for marketing purposes, it's trying to provide the next best thing. Since Linux is missing this kind of functionality, this small Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi 2-powered device just might be AI solution that everyone was waiting for.