Recent year The Christmas Eve champagne isn’t even toasty yet, and CES week is already behind us.
The giant annual celebration of consumer technology begins the first full week of January, when companies from around the world gather in Las Vegas to promote their latest innovations.
As always, WIRED will be tracking the deluge of tech announcements. Our intrepid team will be in Las Vegas, hopping around event spaces, trying on headsets, and probably petting a few robot dogs, all while sharing videos of the most vital – and weirdest – things we find. Follow our CES live blog or read all our event coverage.
Everything is artificial intelligence; Nothing is artificial intelligence
Of course, we expect artificial intelligence to feature prominently at CES for the third year in a row. Whether the AI race is a real boom or just a bubble, the entire Earth is apparently caught up in the trend of putting AI features into every fresh device.
The influx of companies stuffing chatbots, vision systems, and sharp sensors into their products has created something of an equalization—when all products offer similar features and utilize cases, it’s harder to tell them apart.
“Everything is AI now, so nothing is AI,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, who has been saying this for some time. “It’s reached such a saturation point that just saying ‘AI’ doesn’t really do anything.”
Competitive products can leverage AI capabilities to do the same things, but the differences that make one win over the other may come down to how best to implement the software.
“It really is a software maturity story,” Sag says. “But it’s not very sexy.”
Take sharp glasses for example. There will be plenty of sharp glasses on display at CES this year. From the emails already arriving in my inbox, these glasses will have almost everything you need – voice-activated chatbot search, keen displays, instant language translation. But any fresh specs will have to compete with Meta, which has built quite a lead with its best-selling sharp glasses. Meta has been refining its user experience and design for years, and so far its execution is second to none.
Extend this to almost any product category and you’ll see the same thing.
“How useful is this software, but also how good is the software?” Saga says. “Everyone will have some type of AI – AI earbuds, AI glasses. But if the software sucks, they’ll be useless.”
Beyond wearables
Currently, AI is present on your face and arms – in sharp glasses and sharp watches – but this year it will spread increasingly into products such as earbuds, headphones and sharp clothing.
Health technology will also see an raise in AI capabilities as companies look to utilize AI to monitor biometric data from wearable devices such as rings and wristbands. Health sensors will continue to appear in newer places, such as toilets, bath mats and bras.
The sharp home will continue to be powered by machine intelligence, with more products able to listen, see and understand what’s happening in your living space. Familiar candidates for AI-powered improvements like sharp vacuum cleaners and security cameras will be joined by surprising AI companions like refrigerators and garage door openers.
Many people dealing with AI gadgets may decide to hold their breath to see what OpenAI’s new gadget strategy looks. The company revealed that its first consumer technology products will be personal devices – reportedly a home audio player and a note-taking pen – although these are not expected to hit the market for at least another year, and there may be more in store.