Josh.ai has published a Code of Conduct for AI in the Home, outlining 12 principles for how AI should operate in connected living spaces while keeping home owners in control of their properties.

The code is supported by a proposed Home Authority Stack, which defines how permissions should flow through a home. Under the architecture, AI doesn’t directly control connected devices. Instead, requests pass through the home’s control system, which checks permissions and determines whether an action is allowed before it reaches a device.

Josh.ai says the approach is designed to ensure AI remains predictable, explainable, reversible and private as its capabilities expand.

The 12 rules cover areas including user control, transparency, privacy, security and confirmation requirements for consequential actions. The code calls for authorised users to be able to interrupt or switch off AI without friction, while actions should be explainable and reversible.

Josh.ai chief executive Alex Capecelatro says AI entering the home needs to remain accountable to the people who live there: “The most powerful technology of our time is moving into the most personal place we have.”

“People are right to ask what happens when AI can unlock a door or watch a camera in their home and our answer is simple: The intelligence in a home must always answer to the people who live there. We’re publishing these principles to hold ourselves to them first, and to provide the entire industry with a clear standard to build toward.”

A central principle of the code is the separation of AI intelligence from authority. Under Josh.ai’s proposed model, AI can reason and make suggestions but cannot independently operate a device. Each request is instead assessed by the control system against the household’s permissions.

The code also addresses the potential for increasingly capable AI systems, arguing that greater intelligence shouldn’t result in greater authority. Josh.ai proposes maintaining the same permission layers and a physical off switch regardless of how capable an AI system becomes.

The company is publishing the code as a voluntary standard and is encouraging platform developers, device manufacturers, professional installers and home owners to adopt and build on the principles. Josh.ai also says that it’s open to working with policymakers as regulation around AI develops.