Please make it easy to disable the Assist feature from Settings. It's not a choice if the alternative means giving up automatic config

Feature Requests
1

I apologise if this is the wrong place to say this.

In the announcement of Assist, @frenck states that Assist is enabled by default. This implies that it is still possible to have it disabled. Please add an option in Settings to disable it, such that it would be simple for a user to disable it.

Why?

Because adding technology that understands language to a private space like a home should be a choice, and in the current state of things, it is not. The current method of disabling Assist requires a person to take over the management of a large amount of manual configuration - I have read that around 39 configs would then have to be manually managed going forward.

That is more work than an average user could reasonably be expected to do. This means that anyone whose skill level or time availability is not sufficient to take over manual administration of a system must accept Assist or stop using the software. It is a frankly baffling position for the developers to take.

Acceptance of a technology cannot be honestly inferred if you don’t make adoption optional. You cannot assume consent if you do not ask for it.

I have very real concerns about allowing a technology like Assist (one that understands language) into my home, even though it is not yet very complex. I wish to remain in control of the decision.

I don’t understand why this feature is so mission critical that user acceptance must be forced.

@frenck says that Assist is “enabled by default.” While it remains an option, it should be possible to opt out.

Home Assistant’s previous forays into language recognition and intents were optional. So should Assist be. This is not the kind of assistance I want from technology that runs in my home space.

Optionally, I would be super comfortable if Assist were a plugin.

I have rolled back to the previous version in the interim.

Thank you for being willing to discuss this.

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2

You should probably change the category to “feature request”.

I’d vote for it even tho I have no issues with voice recognition. It definitely should be optional.

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3

Wait, what just happened? was it a FR and I missed it or did it get changed? :laughing:

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Taking control instead of using default_config really isn’t that hard. It amounts to writing (up to) 39 words in your configuration.yaml file and in future checking the release notes for new integrations you may want to add.

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I moved it.

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Hi @tom_l, thanks for your feedback. You are correct, for a computer literate person that is not a completely impossible task, especially if it were possible to copy and paste them.

However, that is not as user-friendly a solution as a checkbox, nor as respectful of choice as a plugin. Much of the work around Home Assistant in the last year has been in making it easier to use for people who aren’t computer literate. Requiring an under-the-hood edit for something that is currently optional speaks to intent.

This issue, for me, speaks both to the technology that is in Assist, and the kind of decision making that leads it not to be optional. While it requires manual configuration to remove it, it cannot be described with honesty as “optional.”

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@DeeBeeKay I agree with you completely. Having this on by default goes completely against what I understand to be the fundamental goal of Home Assistant to be ‘local first and by default’.

@tom_l I respectfully disagree with your statement.

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I’m going leave this open but is essentially a duplicate of this:

Current official position on the matter: https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/62139#issuecomment-1030845314

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Hi @tom_l, thank you for leaving this open. I can certainly see why the two are connected: the issue you linked would provide an easier - though still not convenient - way for a user to disable Assist, and would certainly satisfy my personal anxiety around this.

But here is why I still don’t feel like that’s a good solution from a philosophical standpoint.

If HA cannot run without Assist enabled, then Assist is core functionality. If it can, then Assist is not core.

I would like to hear the case for why Assist is core. If it is not core, then it’s adoption should not be mandatory, but should preferably be as easy a choice to make as choosing not to install a plugin.

I regret that this is a principle issue for me.

If it truly is trivial to disable Assist without being saddled with manual admin for the foreseeable future, I would appreciate a page in the documentation with example code for how to do it.

Thank you for continuing the conversation.

EDIT: from reading the thread you linked to, editing default config will not currently be allowed

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That is sidestepping the issue. This is not about how to ‘take control’ of the default_config (although I too disagree that this ‘really isn’t that hard’. It is hard. The issue is about whether the Assist feature should be in the default_config in the first place, which I emphatically agree with OP that it should not. The Assist feature should be an explicitly optional feature preferably not even installed by default, let alone enabled by default.

2 Likes
11

No, that’s not how it works. Most of integrations in default config Home Assistant can run quite happily without.

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Hi @tom_l, I understand you to be saying that Assist is not core functionality, which is a relief to me. Thank you for clarifying that.

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It is a core integration but Home Assistant can run fine without it, just like most of the other integrations in default_config. For example I don’t have counters installed or enabled because I don’t use them. Yet counters are a core integration.

Core: released/updated along with monthly Home Assistant updates. Maintained by the Nabu Casa development team and volunteers.

Third Party: released/updated at any time. Maintained by anyone.

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@tom_l Thank you for clarifying, it’s a linguistic issue around our understandings of the word “core”.

I mean it in the sense of, fundamental to operation, but you’ve explained that Home Assistant uses it differently.

What word would do you feel would describe a component that is optional - one without which the system’s operation would not be affected? If we agree to use “optional”, then the opposite would be “mandatory”.

So a rephrasing of my question would be, I would like to hear the case for why Assist is not optional.

I understand you to be saying it is currently as turn-offable as any section of the config, and I will look into that. But for the time being I will hold back on updating in the hopes that Assist becomes optional to a layman.

I could see it being one of the questions you’re asking during initial setup: would you like to use Assist to control your Home Assistant installation? Because @frenck is right about one thing: it will be a significant game changer.

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To make it opt in it would be as easy for the devs to just remove it from default_config.

then the user could add it or not as they see fit.

3 Likes
16

I’m not sure what everybody is worried about.
HA doesn’t have any ears jet, so even if the feature is activated it doesn’t do much in relation to privacy.
And unless you actively add some it won’t grow ears either.

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17

It’s a new feature and the creator wants their average user base to enjoy it. I think that’s perfectly reasonable and no need for a deep explanation. The developers already offer a way for advanced users like yourself to disable features. The default config feature is designed for average users to enjoy new features without changing anything. If you don’t fit into that category you should then take control of your configuration.

2 Likes
18

You’re missing the main point which is whether it should be disabled by default. My vote is for disabled.

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I am a long time HA user and to be honest I didn’t even know the default config existed until they added the energy feature and I wondered why I couldn’t see it! My point is that having the required keys in your configuration.yaml isn’t that onerous and indeed allows you to unload any of the integrations you don’t actually use. You can keep an eye on what is included (beside watching the release notes) by visiting this page Default Config - Home Assistant

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Hello, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to respond, I’m in a country that is having significant problems with its power grid.

On review, framing this issue in terms of the benefits and risks of language recognition technology is the wrong way to approach this; as far as that goes, I think it’s sufficient to acknowledge that the tech is cool, but that privacy issues do exist.

A simplified form of the issue is, if saying no requires giving up the functional benefits of automatic configuration, then it’s not a choice. This should not be on by default, any more than any “user choice” feature should be.

The following statement is true, and should also make it clear how unnecessary this thread is.

`“Assist is an optional, non-critical feature that make Home Assistant even easier to use. You can choose not to use it, but in that case you must be computer literate and willing to perform manual edits every time a new version breaks something.”

Is it necessary to argue further? I hope it’s not, because this is an issue that doesn’t need to exist.

Anyone claiming that manual config is easy has not been using Home Assistant long enough to remember what it was like when the default config didn’t exist. The YouTube channels of people like The Hookup, Dr ZZz, and Bruh exist because while using a text editor is easy, editing YAML isn’t.

Home Assistant is only accessible to people that aren’t computer literate because default config now exists. Requiring end users to become computer literate in response to an arbitrary decision to enable a thing, isn’t a good choice, and doesn’t respect how far the platform has come.

I admire @frenck a great deal, and would value a statement from him on this issue. I would also like to reiterate that this isn’t about the value of Assist, or, I’d prefer it not to be. It’s about turning on features by default without making it possible to disable them easily in the Settings menu.

If it isn’t easy for end users to turn it off, you haven’t given them a choice at all.

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