SILICON VALLEY — By Rebecca Lately, AI Bee Reel Staff

February 23, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO — I stepped into the master bath of a renovated smart condo. The room was hot. The tiles were expensive. A man named Gary stood behind a glass wall, naked and afraid. He stared at the silver handle on the wall. He did not look like a man about to relax. He looked like a man about to make a terrible mistake for the sake of technology.

Gary turned the water on. He washed his hair. Then he stopped. He looked up at the showerhead with wild eyes. He realized the suds washing off his head were about to come back for round two. He tried to dodge the water. He jumped to the left. Then he jumped to the right. He was fighting his own rinse cycle. He kept his lips pressed tight, refusing to open his mouth even to breathe.

“It is a closed loop of efficiency,” said Dr. Aris Thorne, VP of Flow Dynamics, checking a clipboard while steam fogged up his glasses. “The machine grabs the used water, takes out the big stuff, and sends it back up. It saves 80% of the water. Sure, Gary is technically showering in a soup made of himself. But look at those savings.”

Gary stood perfectly still in the corner of the shower, deciding it was better to be dirty than to be recycled.

Inspired by the real story: Kohler’s new smart shower filters and recirculates used water to reduce waste. Read the full story.