The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 opened this week in Las Vegas, with artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) dominating the headlines. Major companies like Nvidia, Samsung, and Microsoft unveiled new hardware and partnerships aimed at bringing AI and AR technology into mainstream consumer products over the next year.
AI Assistants and Robots Draw Crowds
Several major AI announcements caused substantial buzz at CES this year:
- Nvidia announced the latest iteration of their AI platform, featuring new chips optimized for conversational AI and improved energy efficiency. Their newly announced “Einstein” AI assistant shows major advances in natural language understanding compared to last year’s models.
- Samsung demonstrated an AI robot named “Atom” designed to be a personal home assistant. Atom can supposedly clean, remind you of appointments, control smart home devices, converse naturally, and learn users’ preferences over time.
- Startup Anthropic introduced their new AI assistant “Claude”, which is designed to be helpful, harmless, and honest. Claude wowed attendees through natural conversations and showed creativity completing tasks like writing poems or debugging code.
“It’s clear AI is transitioning from a promising technology into usable assistants and robots,” said a Samsung spokesperson. “This will be the year AI becomes truly integrated into consumer lives.”
AR Glasses Edge Towards Mainstream
For the past decade, AR glasses have seemed perpetually “just a few years” away from going mainstream. This year, some experts believe that threshold might finally occur:
- Apple is heavily rumored to unveil their AR glasses this fall. Expected to interface with iPhones to display information, these slick glasses could drive wide adoption.
- Multiple other AR headsets were announced from companies like TCL, Oppo, and LG. These are all slated for release later this year.
- Display company Xreal announced they shipped 350,000 pairs of AR glasses in 2023, taking 51% market share in Q3 alone. Their new Air2 glasses correct past comfort issues and add hand tracking.
CES 2024 AR Glasses Competitive Landscape
| Company | Product | Release Date | Key Features |
|-|-|-|-|
| Apple | Apple Glasses | Fall 2024 | Sleek design, iPhone integration
| Xreal | Air2 | Now | Comfortable, hand tracking
| Microsoft | HoloLens 3 | Fall 2024 | Enterprise focused, advanced optics
With increasing hardware capabilities and developer platforms maturing, insiders widely expect 2024 to be “the year of AR.”
What Else Caught Attention
Beyond AI and AR dominating headlines, other compelling technologies debuted at CES 2024:
- Electric vehicles – VinFast introduced their first two EVs targeting the US market with advanced driver assistance features and vehicle-to-grid charging. Other automakers highlighted EV models launching this year as competition keeps heating up.
- Gaming – Dell and Acer previewed new lightweight but powerful gaming laptops featuring next-gen GPUs and improved battery technology. AMD also teased their next-generation graphics cards aimed at higher frame rates and richer VR experiences.
- Smart home – New smart home products from the likes of Samsung, LG, and GE integrate improved computer vision, voice control, and home automation powered by ambient AI.
The Future of Technology
CES 2024 paints a vision of the future with AI and AR enabling transformative new products. Within a few years, consumers may commonly interact with AI assistants incorporating computer vision, speech processing, and natural language understanding to converse, retrieve information, and automate tasks. Sleek AR glasses could overlay digital information onto real world environments – initially providing directions and notifications before enabling shared virtual spaces and 3D experiences blending realities.
5G and WiFi 7 will provide the fast, reliable connectivity to make these bandwidth-hungry technologies work properly. New semiconductor designs specialize AI processing at the edge rather than the cloud to keep data local and enable real-time experiences. Powerful but efficient chipsets also allow for thinner, lighter devices with longer battery life.
Of course, substantial innovation remains converting these promising demos into products meeting mass market needs at accessible prices. But CES suggests the technology landscape could look radically different in just a couple years. The foundations get established at shows like this before rapid consumer adoption changes everyday lives.
To err is human, but AI does it too. Whilst factual data is used in the production of these articles, the content is written entirely by AI. Double check any facts you intend to rely on with another source.
