The Evolution of AI: Separating Hype from Reality at CES

As we approach another year of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one topic has become increasingly prevalent in conversations among tech enthusiasts and industry professionals alike: artificial intelligence, or AI. It's hard to believe it's been just a couple of years since the Amazon Echo smart speaker was all the rage, with everyone talking about the "A-word" being integrated into every product imaginable. While that excitement was certainly warranted at first, we're now seeing AI being incorporated into an even wider range of products and technologies.

As I prepare to dive into CES this year, I'm excited to explore what's truly innovative and what's just a continuation of existing trends. The challenge lies in separating the hype from reality – is AI really going to revolutionize our world as it seems like it will, or is it just an incremental improvement on things we've always had? I think it's fair to say that AI is going to be a major focus at CES, and for good reason.

One of the biggest areas where AI will be on display is in smart appliances. We've all heard the pitch about how smart homes are going to change our lives – but what does that really mean in practice? How can we have the luxury of a smart oven or refrigerator without it turning into a nightmare of overworked cooks and burnt meals? I'm looking forward to seeing some real-world examples of how LG plans to make this happen. Their CTO is scheduled to give a keynote, which should provide some valuable insights into what the future holds for AI in appliances.

Another area where AI will be making waves at CES is in the auto industry. The merging of electronics and automotive technology has been happening for years, but it's only recently that we've started to see true self-driving cars on the horizon. Last year, I had the chance to take a ride in a self-driving taxi, which was a surreal experience – essentially just sitting back and letting someone else drive while enjoying the view around you (but not really enjoying it, let's be real). What's exciting is that this technology is finally becoming more accessible, and we can expect to see some impressive demos of self-driving cars at CES.

One of the most fascinating aspects of self-driving cars is how they'll change our daily lives. No longer will we need a driver's license or worry about getting behind the wheel – instead, we'll be able to reclaim that time for ourselves in the "25th hour," as it's been dubbed. This concept refers to the hour we spend commuting each day, which suddenly becomes available when you're not stuck driving. I'm eager to see what life will be like inside a self-driving car, with features like built-in coffee makers and LCD screens, making long trips feel more like vacations than commutes.

The experience of owning a self-driving car is still largely uncharted territory, but it's clear that this technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we live our lives. Whether you're interested in learning more about AI, smart appliances, or simply seeing what CES has to offer, Digital Trends will be here to bring you up-to-date coverage of all things tech.

We'll have live coverage of CES from Las Vegas, as well as a team on the ground bringing you all the latest news and developments from the show floor. With so much excitement and innovation happening at CES, it's an event that's not to be missed. Stay tuned for more updates from Digital Trends, and get ready to experience the future of tech like never before.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlet's get an overview let's help get you a little bit more prepared for what to expect at CES this year Caleb what are the main things you expect to hear from televisions this year well 8k is going to be a big buzzword it's already begun Samsung put out the first 8k TV earlier this year we're going to see several from other manufacturers at the show and there'll be a lot of talk about that we're making an advancement to HDMI 2.1 which on the face of it is not that sexy but what that new connection standard means is that you get variable refresh rate high frame rates more more data going down the pipeline which is great for gamers and also better audio coming out of your TV you know it used to be that you couldn't get Dolby Atmos to your sambar or receiver out of your TV with simple connections that that all changes this year and and that kind of paints a picture for what its gonna be like in the future years more and more technology we're gonna hear a lot about AI baked into televisions this is designed to enhance what Amazon's a word or the right cool assist we won't fit it off right now yeah but I mean it's designed to enhance what they can do for you so that your TV basically acts like an Amazon echo speaker or a Google home speaker it allows you to control things in your home see different you know cameras if you have smart cameras installed in your home it's not just a TVs though there's a lot of other display technologies they're gonna be a big focus for CES so one of course is the rollable OLED screens we saw those last year actual televisions that just roll up into a little coil like a like a drape that slides right up to your window and those are amazing and I think we're probably gonna see now you can see some footage that exactly it just it rolls up into a little base station then just rolls out whenever you need it I think that's pretty fantastic frankly everyone who's got especially you have a larger screen television a 60 70 inch TV it just sits on the wall and unless you've got some technology to make it blend into the backdrop or maybe you've got a picture that you just hang up for that TV doing something like that there's just a big blank screen on the wall yeah I mean you know if you have like the old 80s mansion where you know the walls parts and you know the television comes out you're good fella's fine but this yeah this is the next step I think for that it just it just looks so cool it does can be different aspect ratios you know when it's not a fixed size you can scale it up and down as you want it and use it in different ways I'm looking forward to seeing the different ways that LG suggest that you use a TV like that we've been hearing about it for years that somebody's been working on a foldable phone so and so is gonna W when so-and-so has one and we finally did get to take a look at a couple over this last couple of months at least somebody showcasing them what do we know about foldable phones are we gonna get to see these at CES are these gonna be coming out to the market Jeremy what can you fill us in on with that well that's the big question you know we've been following the rumors for a couple months there's been this will they won't they think our manufacturers actually gonna show these things and the challenge is of course CES as we've been saying the Super Bowl of technology but in just a month or two right afterwards is Mobile World Congress which is the Superbowl of mobile technology so if you're making a splash in the mobile industry maybe you save it for March or maybe you debut it at CES I think that that's I think it's really a marketing thing at this point the phones absolutely do exist if if I had to make a prediction and I do because that's what I do I would say absolutely we are definitely going to see at least one and I think to the big buzzword more than anything else that you hear about from CES is gonna be 5g it's just there's gonna be an explosion of noise surrounding 5g and we've seen this for two or three years at this point you go to CES and there's just noise about 5g which has been for people like myself incredibly frustrating like we know that it is an interesting technology we know it has all sorts of benefits and yet there's not actually anything to see that was the case last year there was just a lot of hype and no actual products and then this year November December finally we've seen companies like AT&T and Verizon rolling out small test markets and an actual products that you need to actually start using 5g so I think that what we're gonna see this year for the first time ever not just hype but actual timelines actual announcements about when you're gonna be able to use 5g let's go out and talk about something else something else that's that's really been prevalent you know over the last couple of years this isn't just a recent thing but I'm talking about AI artificial intelligence how it's being utilized and especially at CES it seems like you know a couple years ago everybody was just talking about the Amazon a word being incorporated in everything I won't send everybody's off I'm trying not to do that but now you know we're seeing this kind of technology or this concept being incorporated in all kinds of products I want to I wanted to sift this outward you know we're gonna talk about is it AI or is it BS you know at CES we're gonna snip you know sift through this and determine is this really something that that is going to transform our world or is it a small enhancement on something we've always had that's a great way of looking at it ai or BS I like that and well the challenge is that so much of AI is being colored by the voice assistance right that's the I'm you know of course Alexa sorry I said the a word is it powered by AI and of course the Google assistant is powered by AI but I think that what we're gonna be seeing at CES is not just a lot of speakers that can listen you and do stuff but AI that does a lot more and you know I think that AI is going to be very adaptive and proactive in the future and so what I'm looking for from a lot of announcements at CES is what does that mean you know we talked about marks and smart appliances and the ongoing gag is I don't do I really want to preheat my oven when I'm at the office no I'm just gonna burn my damn house down nobody wants that but how can how can smarts be built into appliances such that they do things and react for us and help us out and I think that's one of the things LG has a big keynote where the CTO is gonna be talking about things like that and that's what I really look forward to seeing you know what does it mean for us on a real practical level when there's AI built in the software the auto industry is a gigantic component of the Consumer Electronics Show because of this you know continuing you know merging of electronics and the auto industry and cars and and how everything's kind of come together what do we expect from the auto industry this year at CES well the one thing I'm expecting more than anything is a lot of demonstrations of the self-driving cars it just like 5g self-driving cars in this technology we've been talking about for ages and ages and we're finally actually getting there so I remember last year I had a I took a ride in a self-driving taxicab which was the single most boring thing I've ever done in my life that was astounding like it was just it was a taxi ride it took me around the corner took me to a destination drop me off exactly nothing happened but on the other hand like oh my god it was driven by a robot and we didn't crash in anything like it so what you're gonna see is this really interesting duality so you see that picture right there we've got the e pallet a demo car from from Toyota at the same time that we're seeing these really dull and yet amazing demonstrations of self-driving cars we're gonna see these really astonishing looks at what life will be like if you own a self-driving car because if you think about it you don't need your driver's license anymore you don't need to be up behind the wheel you don't even need to pay attention you're just a passive passenger that they call it the 25th hour right the 25th hour of your day is that one hour that you usually spend commuting that suddenly been reclaimed for you so what is the experience like inside of a car when all the sudden you don't need to drive you're just sitting there and so that's the thing that I look forward to seeing like the demonstrations it's like benches and LCD screens and like built-in coffee makers you pull a coffee over here and the newspaper comes up and you're just sitting back relaxing while the car is doing the driving for you that's the cool part of the of the car experience well there's so much excitement to cover when it comes down to the Consumer Electronics Show and that's why Digital Trends is here to bring you information about all of these different things we've got I don't even know how many people are gonna be at CES this year covering all aspects of everything that's going on there to bring you up to date on it it will also be broadcasting live and Jeremy I want to say thank you so much for taking some time I know you're probably heading out of town here shortly to get down there to Las Vegas Jeremy Kaplan read his article at Digital Trendslet's get an overview let's help get you a little bit more prepared for what to expect at CES this year Caleb what are the main things you expect to hear from televisions this year well 8k is going to be a big buzzword it's already begun Samsung put out the first 8k TV earlier this year we're going to see several from other manufacturers at the show and there'll be a lot of talk about that we're making an advancement to HDMI 2.1 which on the face of it is not that sexy but what that new connection standard means is that you get variable refresh rate high frame rates more more data going down the pipeline which is great for gamers and also better audio coming out of your TV you know it used to be that you couldn't get Dolby Atmos to your sambar or receiver out of your TV with simple connections that that all changes this year and and that kind of paints a picture for what its gonna be like in the future years more and more technology we're gonna hear a lot about AI baked into televisions this is designed to enhance what Amazon's a word or the right cool assist we won't fit it off right now yeah but I mean it's designed to enhance what they can do for you so that your TV basically acts like an Amazon echo speaker or a Google home speaker it allows you to control things in your home see different you know cameras if you have smart cameras installed in your home it's not just a TVs though there's a lot of other display technologies they're gonna be a big focus for CES so one of course is the rollable OLED screens we saw those last year actual televisions that just roll up into a little coil like a like a drape that slides right up to your window and those are amazing and I think we're probably gonna see now you can see some footage that exactly it just it rolls up into a little base station then just rolls out whenever you need it I think that's pretty fantastic frankly everyone who's got especially you have a larger screen television a 60 70 inch TV it just sits on the wall and unless you've got some technology to make it blend into the backdrop or maybe you've got a picture that you just hang up for that TV doing something like that there's just a big blank screen on the wall yeah I mean you know if you have like the old 80s mansion where you know the walls parts and you know the television comes out you're good fella's fine but this yeah this is the next step I think for that it just it just looks so cool it does can be different aspect ratios you know when it's not a fixed size you can scale it up and down as you want it and use it in different ways I'm looking forward to seeing the different ways that LG suggest that you use a TV like that we've been hearing about it for years that somebody's been working on a foldable phone so and so is gonna W when so-and-so has one and we finally did get to take a look at a couple over this last couple of months at least somebody showcasing them what do we know about foldable phones are we gonna get to see these at CES are these gonna be coming out to the market Jeremy what can you fill us in on with that well that's the big question you know we've been following the rumors for a couple months there's been this will they won't they think our manufacturers actually gonna show these things and the challenge is of course CES as we've been saying the Super Bowl of technology but in just a month or two right afterwards is Mobile World Congress which is the Superbowl of mobile technology so if you're making a splash in the mobile industry maybe you save it for March or maybe you debut it at CES I think that that's I think it's really a marketing thing at this point the phones absolutely do exist if if I had to make a prediction and I do because that's what I do I would say absolutely we are definitely going to see at least one and I think to the big buzzword more than anything else that you hear about from CES is gonna be 5g it's just there's gonna be an explosion of noise surrounding 5g and we've seen this for two or three years at this point you go to CES and there's just noise about 5g which has been for people like myself incredibly frustrating like we know that it is an interesting technology we know it has all sorts of benefits and yet there's not actually anything to see that was the case last year there was just a lot of hype and no actual products and then this year November December finally we've seen companies like AT&T and Verizon rolling out small test markets and an actual products that you need to actually start using 5g so I think that what we're gonna see this year for the first time ever not just hype but actual timelines actual announcements about when you're gonna be able to use 5g let's go out and talk about something else something else that's that's really been prevalent you know over the last couple of years this isn't just a recent thing but I'm talking about AI artificial intelligence how it's being utilized and especially at CES it seems like you know a couple years ago everybody was just talking about the Amazon a word being incorporated in everything I won't send everybody's off I'm trying not to do that but now you know we're seeing this kind of technology or this concept being incorporated in all kinds of products I want to I wanted to sift this outward you know we're gonna talk about is it AI or is it BS you know at CES we're gonna snip you know sift through this and determine is this really something that that is going to transform our world or is it a small enhancement on something we've always had that's a great way of looking at it ai or BS I like that and well the challenge is that so much of AI is being colored by the voice assistance right that's the I'm you know of course Alexa sorry I said the a word is it powered by AI and of course the Google assistant is powered by AI but I think that what we're gonna be seeing at CES is not just a lot of speakers that can listen you and do stuff but AI that does a lot more and you know I think that AI is going to be very adaptive and proactive in the future and so what I'm looking for from a lot of announcements at CES is what does that mean you know we talked about marks and smart appliances and the ongoing gag is I don't do I really want to preheat my oven when I'm at the office no I'm just gonna burn my damn house down nobody wants that but how can how can smarts be built into appliances such that they do things and react for us and help us out and I think that's one of the things LG has a big keynote where the CTO is gonna be talking about things like that and that's what I really look forward to seeing you know what does it mean for us on a real practical level when there's AI built in the software the auto industry is a gigantic component of the Consumer Electronics Show because of this you know continuing you know merging of electronics and the auto industry and cars and and how everything's kind of come together what do we expect from the auto industry this year at CES well the one thing I'm expecting more than anything is a lot of demonstrations of the self-driving cars it just like 5g self-driving cars in this technology we've been talking about for ages and ages and we're finally actually getting there so I remember last year I had a I took a ride in a self-driving taxicab which was the single most boring thing I've ever done in my life that was astounding like it was just it was a taxi ride it took me around the corner took me to a destination drop me off exactly nothing happened but on the other hand like oh my god it was driven by a robot and we didn't crash in anything like it so what you're gonna see is this really interesting duality so you see that picture right there we've got the e pallet a demo car from from Toyota at the same time that we're seeing these really dull and yet amazing demonstrations of self-driving cars we're gonna see these really astonishing looks at what life will be like if you own a self-driving car because if you think about it you don't need your driver's license anymore you don't need to be up behind the wheel you don't even need to pay attention you're just a passive passenger that they call it the 25th hour right the 25th hour of your day is that one hour that you usually spend commuting that suddenly been reclaimed for you so what is the experience like inside of a car when all the sudden you don't need to drive you're just sitting there and so that's the thing that I look forward to seeing like the demonstrations it's like benches and LCD screens and like built-in coffee makers you pull a coffee over here and the newspaper comes up and you're just sitting back relaxing while the car is doing the driving for you that's the cool part of the of the car experience well there's so much excitement to cover when it comes down to the Consumer Electronics Show and that's why Digital Trends is here to bring you information about all of these different things we've got I don't even know how many people are gonna be at CES this year covering all aspects of everything that's going on there to bring you up to date on it it will also be broadcasting live and Jeremy I want to say thank you so much for taking some time I know you're probably heading out of town here shortly to get down there to Las Vegas Jeremy Kaplan read his article at Digital Trends\n"