Artificial intelligence expected to be centre stage as CES 2024 – consumer electronics show – kicks off

From LG to Samsung, the big tech names are showing off their next gen products Aussies will be desperate for. But they’re all grappling with the same issue.

Artificial intelligence expected to be centre stage as CES 2024 – consumer electronics show – kicks off

A who’s who of big names in the home technology world will descend on Las Vegas’ neon lit strip this week.

LG, Microsoft, Hisense, Sony, Samsung, Mercedes, BMW, Kia, Canon and Bosch: almost every Aussie home or driveway will contain at least one of the major brands which will be showing off their fancy new gadgets and gizmos at the 2024 consumer electronics show, CES.

Over 3000 exhibitors will be at what is the world’s biggest tech show which begins on January 9.

Not Apple though – Apple never turns up to CES.

Apple aside, expect wireless, foldup TVs that are bigger, brighter (and more exxey) than ever; robots that do way more than just vacuum your home, fridges that display TikTok dance moves, and electric cars everywhere all at once.

And, this being the US, there are even expected to be devices that can work out whether that student with a suspiciously big backpack is actually carrying a gun into school.

The world will have to wait for Tuesday (Australia time) for the big announcements. But a few have been sneaked out already.

Kia will debut five electric vehicles at CES.

Big problem with CES’ big theme

This year’s big theme at CES is artificial intelligence. You thought it was just ChatGPT? All the big names are getting in on AI cramming into their new electronics.

“It’s the year of AI in everything. If you don’t have it in your product don’t show up,” Lopez research analyst Maribel Lopez told Reuters.

But there’s a problem with this AI extravaganza. The big tech brands are still trying to convince customers that AI will make their lives better.

There’s a feeling consumers need a bit of meat on the AI bone to see if they should really shell out on it.

“Consumer love ChatGPT built the consumer benefit of having it on a device isn’t clear”, Jay Goldenberg of D2D Advisory said, also to Reuters.

“That’s why everyone is talking about it because they’re scrambling for the customer utility”.

Korea’s LG is betting big rolling on AL in the home with its new AI smart home assistant which could lead to a “zero labour home”.

LG’s AI smart home assistant. Picture: LG.

The assistant is a cheeky chappie with cheery eyes which LG says can “move, learn, comprehend and engage in complex conversations”.

It can recognise the residents in a home, measure temperature and humidity, turn lights off in empty rooms and keep an eye on pets notifying you if Fido seems under the weather.

It’s claimed can even trundle over to you when you come home, analyse your expressions, ascertain your mood and start playing an appropriate tune. Such, as, maybe, Celine Dion’s All by Myself if you’re single and live alone.

“LG aims to liberate users from the burden of housework,” says LG, which is a high bar indeed.

AI PCs are set to be a thing with new laptops with chips from the likes of Intel and AMD featuring neural processing units.

The hope is these AI chips with NPUs will worker faster and smarter but more efficiently giving better resolution but also sucking up less power.

LG Unveils Latest OLED evo TVs. Picture: LG.

Televisions

Televisions are huge at CES. In 2023, smaller tech firm Displace debuted an entirely wireless and ultra-thin TV that needed no cords, could theoretically be stuck to a window and the channel could be changed with a wave of the hand. All you needed to do was charge it once in a while.

But Displace’s model, while novel, looked like it was still someone way off. This year it’s expected to demonstrate if it’s progressed the concept further.

LG already has an (almost) cordless TV which it showed off in 2023 which only needs a power cord. In 2024, its top end 2024 OLED range will be equipped with a new Alpha A processor enhancing picture and audio quality.

CES sometimes pretends it’s a bit of a car show with big auto names in attendance keen to show they’re embedding tech in cars or building new models centred on IT and connectivity.

Kia will be spruiking no fewer than five new electric vehicles, The Korean carmaker will present its EV3, EV4, EV9 and EV6 GT models and a driverless autonomous vehicle.

Samsung’s fridge can recognise if your food is going off and play TikTok. Picture: Samsung.

Samsung is bringing to CES its TikTok fridge. Well strictly speaking it’s the Bespoke 4-Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+ which can mirror your phone to a screen on the fridge. And if TikTok is on your phone, well, it’ll be on your fridge door too.

Perhaps more useful, the refrigerator can scan the inside and with AI work out what the fruit or vegetables are in there, how long they’ve been there and warn you if they’re about to expire. No one wants to stumble across a mouldy tom in a dark corner of the crisper.

Germany isn’t exactly know for gun crime but Teutonic tech powerhouse Bosch will unveil a new gadget to detect firearms.

A combination of AI and video could detect guns in schools and – god willing – prevent the kind of massacres were seem increasingly common in the US.

CES is nothing without the wild, wacky and way out there: tech inventions that are niche or high concept but also could be a glimpse of things to come.

Last year, electronic furry anxiety reducing pets were a thing that nibbled in your finger while you hugged them. There was Neutrogena’s 3D printed “beauty gummies,” the Y-Brush toothbrush which its makers reckoned could clean your teeth in seconds and a device that could work out your vital health signs just by taking a tinkle on it.

News.com.au will be at CES 2024 in the coming days. Follow our reports of the best – and wackiest – new tech products.

The reporter travelled to CES with the assistance of LG.

Originally published as Artificial intelligence expected to be centre stage as CES 2024 – consumer electronics show – kicks off