The future of smart devices: Imagine living or working in a space embedded with sensors that are equipped with mics and cams. The sensors are connected to one another through a central computing system, which picks up on your patterns and performs tasks on your behalf without any kind of prompting. From opening your curtains in the morning to placing an order from your favorite restaurant, or even gathering and analyzing research from online sources, this invisible butler would be by your side 24/7, anticipating your every need. This is called ambient computing — and some of the world’s biggest tech companies are working to make it a reality.

It’s not hard to imagine the benefits: Ambient computing would put the Internet of Things (IoT) to work for individuals, upping efficiency and leaving us to channel our time and energy to the things that we consider of most value, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But for computers to be ‘ambient,’ they need eyes and ears everywhere: We’d have to allow the technology to watch and track our every move, and listen to our conversations, in order for it to predict and perform tasks unprompted. The more features ambient computing masters, the more personal information and footage we’ll have to feed into the technology, leaving the question of how much privacy we are willing to give up in return for luxury and convenience. There’s already evidence that plenty of consumers aren’t comfortable with feeding personal information and footage to devices knowing that they could be hacked into at any time.

Ambient computing could also pose a safety risk: If your smart system misinterprets a situation or experiences a glitch, it could pose a real threat to users. Imagine your car putting itself into drive mode when you are parked, or misidentifying a face and opening your house door to a stranger.

Alexa fans won’t find this too groundbreaking: Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or Google Nest are the closest thing we have to ambient computing for now, according to ZDNET. These voice assistants are integrated into the home — meaning they can “talk” to other smart devices you have installed — and can be activated handsfree, through voice alone. What they don’t yet do is collect data in order to anticipate what you want and do it for you before you think to ask.

Big Tech wants to corner the market: Amazon and Google have each released a stream of devices recently that they hope could one day form the hardware backbone of the ambient computing system in every home, the Wall Street Journal reports. These include smartphones, smart watches, tablets, headphones and TVs that can interact with each other and with the surrounding environment, creating a kind of personal computing bubble that follows us wherever we go.

Making ambient computing infrastructure universally compatible is key: Amazon, Apple, and Google parent Alphabet have all signed up to a new smart home standard dubbed the Matter. All devices that support the Matter protocol will be compatible with each other, opening up the possibility to mix and match smart home tech from different companies to build a seamless ambient computing environment. The Matter is getting an official launch this Thursday, 3 November.

But the next level of ambient computing will require way more powerful wireless: To reach the full potential of ambient computing, devices would need to receive continuous data from hundreds or even thousands of distinct communication points. That would overwhelm current wireless technologies. (Tiny but powerful microelectronic sensors known as “smart dust” could present part of the solution.)