October 2026
ertonline.co.uk
The assistant combines that appliance knowledge with Miele’s recipe database and, where appropriate, can send the settings straight to the oven. In other words, the AI is not there simply to have a chat about salmon.
Taking the thinking out of dishwashing The bigger reveal came after dinner. Miele used IFA for the world premiere of its G8 Diamond dishwasher, which takes the idea of automation beyond simply choosing a programme. Its new AutoVision
technology uses an
integrated camera, image processing and AI- based detection models to determine both how full the dishwasher is and what is actually inside it. Detect pots and the machine can increase cleaning intensity. Find bottles and it can adapt the cycle accordingly, while plastic items are factored into the drying process.
“The G8 detects, decides, dispenses and dries,” Dr Markus Miele said. “Always tailored to what is actually inside the appliance.” The dishwasher can also be told through the
Miele App to wait until it reaches a certain load level before running. A user could, for example, ask it to start only once it is 80 per cent full and between 10pm and 6am. When connected to a compatible energy management system, it can instead run when sufficient energy is available from a home’s solar panels. AutoDos with PowerDisk handles detergent dispensing, while Miele’s new ExcellentDry hot- air system tackles another familiar annoyance: opening the dishwasher to discover the plastic containers are still soaking wet. Even the racks have received some attention.
Flexible baskets, folding spikes and a cutlery tray that can be lowered on one side are intended to make the familiar game of “dishwasher Tetris” a little less infuriating.
“Loading the dishes, closing the door - that you still have to do,” Dr Markus Miele joked. After that, the goal is for consumers to simply forget about it.
Laundry without the laundry lesson Laundry was next, with Axel Kniehl, Executive Director Marketing & Sales at Miele, picking up the theme. Miele is expanding its W2 and T2 laundry generation with Platinum, Gold and Silver classes, bringing features previously seen higher up the range to more models. One of the central technologies is SmartMatic, which adapts water, energy and detergent consumption to loads of up to 6kg. Miele claims that compared with typical average market consumption for a 2kg load, it can reduce energy consumption per kilogram by around 60 per cent. TwinDos continues to automatically handle
detergent dispensing, while DryCare 40 means most garments washable at 40°C can subsequently go into the tumble dryer without the owner having to study the label first. WoolDry extends that thinking to suitable hand- washable wool garments. But it was Miele’s concept for what comes next that provided perhaps the clearest picture of where the company thinks appliances are heading.
Cary is a concept washing machine built
around an extremely simple instruction: load the laundry, press start, done.
Behind that single button, Miele envisages optical and electromechanical sensors working with AI to recognise fabrics, colours and load size before selecting the appropriate washing process and detergent combination automatically.
Mr Kniehl pointed out that a modern washing machine can theoretically present a consumer with more than a million combinations of programmes, temperatures, spin speeds, extras and detergent choices. That might offer control, but how many people really want it? “The complexity hasn’t disappeared,
it’s
just ultimately switching sides,” he explained. Instead of the consumer having to understand
the washing machine, Miele wants the washing machine to understand the laundry.
AI is easy. Trust is harder. Perhaps the most interesting part of Miele’s presentation, however, came when Mr Kniehl addressed the elephant, or perhaps the two letters, in practically every hall at IFA. “Everyone is practically putting AI on their devices,” he said. “If you walk around the fair here, you will see stickers on every machine, on every product: AI inside, AI powered.” His point was that having AI somewhere inside a product does not automatically make that product intelligent in any useful sense. “Just because they write AI on it or have AI in it in some form, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you get good laundry care at the end of the day.”
Instead, Miele is pitching its 127 years of appliance knowledge as the thing that gives the technology value. An AI system can decide how to wash something, the company argues, but those decisions still need to be built upon an understanding of fabrics, detergents, temperatures and the washing process itself.
“Intelligence can be programmed,” Mr Kniehl said. “But trust in this intelligent solution has to be earned very, very hard.” That neatly summed up Miele’s IFA message. There were certainly plenty of clever products on show, and plenty of AI too. But Miele’s vision is not really about adding more technology for consumers to play with. In fact, it is almost the opposite. The technology gets more complicated so using the appliance can become simpler. Whether we really are approaching “the end of housework” might be up for debate – someone still has to put the plates in the dishwasher and the socks in the washing machine, after all. But if Miele gets its way, deciding what happens to them afterwards may increasingly be one less thing to worry about.
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