Not OP, but I can imagine piloting it with a temperature sensor: too warm=>increase speed. It could avoid some sweat-covered wake-ups, depending on the circumstances (trade it for a noise-triggered wake-up, perhaps).

Another use-case I have for this is in a house where the mezzanine gets much warmer than below when heating during winter: detect this with a couple of temperature sensors and turn the fan on when needed.

For the fan - I like having it turn on in the late afternoon to freshen up the air in the bedroom.

I also really like automatically adjusting the brightness/color temperature of all our lights during the day.

It’s by no means necessary, but I don’t want to go back now.

I mean, is it that hard to imagine that someone doesn't have a knob next to their bed?

Also, I've maybe seen a speed control knob for a ceiling fan a few times in my life in the US. Here it's all pullchains, or more recently "smart" bullshit.