CES 2025: Artificial intelligence to take centre stage at tech show but concerns much AI is just ‘hype’
The world's biggest tech showcase is here with fancy TVs and EVs galore – but consumers are increasingly annoyed by two words.
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The world’s biggest technology showcase kicks off in Las Vegas this week, a city still on edge after the car bombing at Trump Tower.
But in Sin City all eyes will now be on the big brands at CES 2025: LG, Honda, Sony, Nvidia, Samsung, Toyota, Hisense and TCL.
They’ll be spruiking their new wares, from huge TVs, to intelligent dishwashers, EVs with holographic windscreens to home helper robots that are as cute as a button to make sure no one is reminded of creepy murderous doll M3GAN from the film of the same name. No siree.
But there’s two letters at Las Vegas that could end up frustrating not only everyone there, but anybody eagerly awaiting new tech – Aussies included.
Those letters are: AI.
At last years’ CES, formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show, artificial intelligence was everywhere.
Sure there were things you expected it to be in: TVs, cars, even fridges. And then there were AI pillows and AI toothbrushes.
It was a term so overused and vague that it essentially became irrelevant.
As one industry exec told news.com.au, in some cases what was simply known as “smart,” a few years ago, was now being rebranded as “AI”.
And that’s the problem, the term AI was so overused at CES 2024 that no one knew what it was really supposed to mean. It was the “demure” of the tech world.
It seemed if a product did anything remotely automatic, the word AI got slapped on it.
Even when a product really did have AI embedded within it, it wasn’t clear to consumers why it was there. No one was quite sure what problems all this new AI was solving.
CES’ own research from 2024 found only 24 per cent of people found AI “helpful”. Research by academic website The Conversation found that while 30 per cent of Australians had used AI services like ChatGPT only 13 per cent used them regularly. While 30 per cent know of AI but haven’t seen a reason to even give it a whirl.
“The challenge to will be cutting through the hype to find the profits that are actually using AI to meaningfully improve how their products work rather than just using the term to boost their marketing,” said Lisa Radicchio of tech website CNET.
At this year’s CES, AI will still be huge, but consumers will be looking for some proof that A) it’s actually AI and not just some random smart tech, and B) It brings some relevance to their lives.
For instance, do you really need your toothbrush to be powered with AI that can track you brushing style and give you “real time feedback”?
Argentic AI
Expect to hear the phrase “Agentic AI” a lot at CES. It’s being touted as a supercharged Siri.
Right now many of us ask our devices questions. But argentic AI will see out devices learn from us and then make suggestions based on that. It could anticipate our needs before we even knew we needed it.
“We’re talking of software that can basically be contextualised to you and your needs, and then advise you within the context you operate personally — your daily life, your calendar, your needs, whatever it is,” Lari Hämäläinen, a senior analyst at consultants McKinsey & Company told CNET.
Wow factor TVs
CES is always about bigger and better TVs. At last year’s show, TCL unveiled a television that was a beast at 115 inches.
But the wow factor was all about transparent TVs. LG debuted a model that all but vanished when you turned it off.
Unfortunately, you still can’t buy that model in Australia but there may be more to announce on that in 2025.
Also expect a bevy of 4K and 5K OLED monitors to bring richer colours especially for gaming.
Fancy chips
OK, so chips are buried deep in gadgets and are not the sexiest of tech products. But when AI leader Nvidia launches a new card, it causes a stir.
Worth $5.5 trillion, Nvida is second only to Apple as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation.
CEO Jense Huang will give the central CES keynote address, on Tuesday US time, and he’s widely expected to use it to launch the new RTX 50 series GPUs.
It’s rumoured to have a 50 per increase in performance on current cards and could make gaming even more luscious and enable next gen AI.
EV excitement
These days, CES is as much about cars as about TVs and fridges. In 2025, a number of big vehicle manufacturers are in town to show off their EV wares. But not Chinese giants, like BYD, which are staying away. Nor Tesla,
Hyundai is looking to reveal a world first full-windscreen holographic display.
Honda – in the throes of ingesting Nissan – will show of two new 0 Series prototype models. Prototypes, of course, means they’re not ready for sale yet. But last year the Cybertruck-esque 0 Saloon and 0 Space Hub caused as stir. The new debuts at CES may show what the final roadworthy version will look like. It’s due on sale in 2026.
In addition, Sony and Honda will offer a look at developments with their joint Afeela EV.
Whatever is launched at CES, expect it to be full of AI. Consumers will be hoping this will be the year AI shows how useful it really can be.
The reporter travelled and stayed at CES with the assistance of LG.
Originally published as CES 2025: Artificial intelligence to take centre stage at tech show but concerns much AI is just ‘hype’
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