The new year is a time for reflection, renewal, and rampant speculation about what wonders (or fresh hell) the future might hold. No place does this mix of anxiety and forward-looking techno-evangelism spring forth more profusely than at CES.
The giant consumer tech showcase is barreling down on Las Vegas starting January 7, bringing with it a whirlwind of fuss about the newest gadgets and devices. And yes, you bet all these things are going to be packed full of AI features. You’re probably going to be asked to wear many of them.
AI has dominated CES—and seemingly every facet of our culture—for the past couple of years. A tsunami of AI tech broke on the shores of CES 2024, and while the floodwaters may have receded a bit since then, the storm of hype around AI’s promise will keep the surge coming.
“You will certainly see AI wearables from the slew of vendors at CES,” says Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at the analyst firm IDC. “I don't think it's going to be similar to what we saw last year, where you had lots of dedicated hardware for AI. More so it will be AI being incorporated into existing devices or it being an additional feature of a device as opposed to the only thing that it’s good for.”
AI Wrapped
With most of the spoils of the current AI boom going to the industry's apex predators—OpenAI, Google, Meta—and their mature, well trained language models, startups who want to compete are focusing more on the physical layer of the user experience.
“You're not going to add any value by creating your own AI model,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. “So the next step is implementing the AI. The easiest way to do that is with some kind of hardware.”
We saw a lot of these AI-powered devices in 2024. Together they showed a variety of use cases, but they were mostly still just vessels for utilizing AI on something that wasn’t your phone or computer. Some of them licensed models like ChatGPT while others used bespoke software to power their interactions, but both paths have been rocky. Devices like Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1 kicked off the trend, though they were ultimately underwhelming. The wearable Friend necklace, which you interact with through a mobile app, garnered controversy for being a device with an always-listening microphone. Others have hinted at greater ambitions, like the Plaud.AI pin, which for now summarizes your meetings but could eventually be instructed to attend the meeting for you.
There are still many more dedicated AI devices to come. Some could be useful, and some are leaning on AI interactions just to appear forward-looking or drum up interest. Whatever the flavor of AI gadget, CES will be the place to stick, strap, slip, and clip them on. We will see the debut of new necklaces, eyewear, pins, and of course headphones. I've lost count of how many press pitches I have received ahead of the event from companies wanting to show off their earbuds built specifically for AI that let you interact with Her-esque chatbots. There are even sex toys. (I will spare you the content of those emails.)
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