*** You don't need an AI-infused smart grill, folks. There's are ZERO reasons you need an Internet-connected "smart grill" or smoker which you can "monitor from everywhere". (unless, you plan on burning down your house when you are out shopping while your grill is running... I know someone who did that last year.)

I recently saw an ad for a /smart/ dishwasher I could control remotely with my phone and it makes even less sense. If my dishes are getting themselves dirty and somehow finding their way into the dishwasher on their own, then a remote-start dishwasher really is the least interesting part of my dish hygiene set-up.

My question is whether we’ll reach a point where most people don’t have a choice: every appliance they can afford is on the internet so the vendor can sell their attention to advertisers and information about them to data brokers

So long as nobody within range of your house has open wifi you can isolate this trash from the Internet. This assumes its masters didn't program it to check for network connnectivity and download the day's ads before letting you use it.