AI, car tech and ‘weird’ gadgets expected to dominate at CES trade show

Artificial intelligence, car technology and new entertainment gadgets for the home will be the big themes on show during one of the tech calendar’s biggest annual events.

Trade show CES opens in Las Vegas on Tuesday, where thousands of firms ranging from giants such as Samsung, LG and Sony to newly formed start-ups, will unveil new products and ideas to around 100,000 attendees.

The event is often used to not only announce new consumer devices and services, but to introduce concept designs and ideas that offer an early look at where the technology sector is heading in the coming years.

Industry expert Leo Gebbie, from analyst firm CCS Insight, said he expects the tech sector’s focus on AI to continue at this year’s CES, but warned of “AI fatigue” as the technology becomes an expected talking point rather than a “genuinely compelling story”.

“CES has pivoted direction in recent years and has increasingly become a show focused on categories like home entertainment and the automotive segment – there’s a huge amount of floor space dedicated to these two areas,” he said.

“AI will also undoubtedly be an omnipresent theme of all the major keynotes and press conferences, as well as a topic that spans the show floor.

“However, we are reaching a point where AI is now just an expected talking point rather than a real major story that is a broad theme but with little in the way of meaningful announcements.

“We’ve been saying for a while that ‘AI fatigue’ is a risk and that it is harder than ever for companies to deliver a genuinely compelling story around AI.

“It is likely there will be a stronger focus on using AI to narrate particular categories. For example, smart home is a segment that’s needed some new life breathing into it for a while now.

“AI can play a valuable part here in terms of helping to rekindle some excitement.”

Mr Gebbie added that broader themes at the trade show were likely to be a “mixed bag”, but said he expected to see the array of strange gadgets that are traditional for the convention.

“Other device categories at CES are a mixed bag. Smartphones tend not to feature heavily at the show any more, and wearables are also a fairly minor category these days,” he said.

“That said, we expect some of the usual ‘weird and wonderful’ new products will grab the headlines but once again fizzle out quite quickly.”

Last year, LG and Samsung were among the firms to show concept versions of transparent TV screens, while robots are also often a common sight at the event.

Fellow industry expert and analyst Paolo Pescatore, founder of PP Foresight, also highlighted how prominent automotive technology had become to CES in recent years.

“At times you could be mistaken for thinking that CES is now more of a car electronic show rather than consumer,” he said.

“The lines between both are blurring as quite a few tech companies continue to pile into this category given the growing importance of software.

“Beyond the traditional automotive providers, we will see a wealth of companies highlighting a variety of solutions and features for this broad category.

“Anything from infotainment, smarter ways of transportation, more AI coming, safety and of course EV charging. All roads lead towards autonomous driving with gen AI playing a key role.”

He added that the show also offered the chance for individual nations to make a case for their domestic tech sectors, with a number of UK firms expected at the event.

“Of course, there are many other areas to investigate in a show as large as CES, such as robots which play a key role across most areas addressed in this piece.

“Specific verticals including fitness and wellbeing, and sports technology too, all part of wearable tech which itself will be well represented, are fertile areas given some of the overarching themes developing around AI and faster chips.

“The event represents an opportunity for countries to demonstrate their technological leadership.

“France typically stands out as one of the most novel and well represented. Others will be looking to step up and put themselves on the global map with niche products and inevitably powered by AI.”