CES 2024, now in its 58th year, will kick off this week in Las Vegas with an expected blend of cutting-edge technologies and quirky gadgets.
The Consumer Technology Association, which hosts CES each year, said it is expecting about 130,000 in-person attendees this year, up from about 115,000 last year and 45,000 in 2022 amid concerns of Covid spiking. CTA is also offering a livestream for some events this year.
AI is expected to be front and center this year, covering all aspects of the show.
“Perhaps the question to ask is what AI will not touch this year,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, a principal analyst at Forrester, told CNN. “ChatGPT has fueled such a frenzy over the last year that companies feel the AI train is one they must scramble onto, even if they have no idea where it’s going.”
Chatterjee said to expect AI in everything such as chips and cards from companies including Intel and Nvidia, and consumer devices like refrigerators from Samsung. Here are 5 AI innovations that made headlines on Day 1 of CES 2024:
Auto Chatbots: The German automaker Volkswagon plans to add an AI-powered chatbot into all its models equipped with its IDA voice assistant. For now, it’s not available in the U.S.
Smart Collars: Consumer electronics company Invoxia is releasing a smart collar for both cats and dogs. The device, known as Minitailz, is an upgrade from the company’s Smart Dog Collar, which was introduced at last year’s conference. Minitailz can track dog walks and runs through built-in SMS and GPS technology that calculates movements in nearly real-time. The smart collar is connected to an app that has a conversational generative A.I. agent that creates personalized pet reports and answers any questions about them.
An AI toilet: Appliance giant Kohler will introduce the PureWash E930 Bidet Seat. The toilet seat fits onto most toilets and transforms any bathroom into an Alexa- or Google Assistant-powered lavatory.The smart toilet seat opens and closes hands-free when it senses motion, and has a self-cleaning mode using its built-in UV light.
AI Chips: Nvidia is positioning the personal computer as a platform for individual use of so-called “large language models” such as Meta’s Llama 2 program and the popular image program Stable Diffusion. The company made big news at CES announcing a new series of its RTX graphics cards, called the RTX 40 Super series, that it says can generate video and images 1.7 times faster and 1.5 times faster, respectively.
AI Pillows: The Motion Pillow uses AI to help tackle snoring problems and give you a better night’s sleep. The AI Motion System detects a user’s snoring and slowly inflates airbags to lift their head and open their airway to reduce it. The accompanying app tracks sleep data, including snoring time, airbag operation time, sleep score, sleep time, and even recordings of your snoring to play back later.
Te show will feature more than 4,000 exhibitors and 1,200 startups from all over the world. Featured speakers will include executives from companies such as Samsung, LG and Microsoft, as well as discussions with Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Apple, which is typically absent from CES, is once again not expected to participate.