Artificial intelligence, boosted by the craze over generative AI, will take center stage at the CES 2024 technology trade show, which opens Tuesday in Las Vegas. Companies including Intel, Walmart, Best Buy and Snap are expected to tout AI-enabled products and services, even if it's just marketing spin for some.
There will be pitches for AI applications for autos, kitchens, home security, digital health and photography. Some presentations will be offbeat, like AI gadgets for hair and scalp analysis, flagging cheating on student tests and adjusting a bed to help one sleep.
Plus, personal computer makers will be at CES 2024 to promote the coming age of AI PCs.
"AI is the story of the show," Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES, told Investor's Business Daily. "I'm looking forward to seeing how companies integrate it and talk about it."
CES 2024 Keynotes From Intel, Qualcomm
CES organizers are holding two days of preshow briefings for the news media starting Sunday afternoon. The show runs through next Friday.
The 2024 show will feature keynote presentations from the chief executives of tech firms Intel, Qualcomm and Snap and retailers Best Buy and Walmart.
Other keynote speakers include the heads of beauty giant L'Oreal, stock exchange Nasdaq, health insurance company Elevance Health and industrial firms Siemens and HD Hyundai.
Predicted Attendance: Over 130,000
CES organizers expect more than 130,000 attendees. The show will feature over 4,000 exhibitors, including about 1,200 startups in its Eureka Park pavilion. The conference will take up more than 2.5 million net square feet of exhibit space, up 15% from the 2023 show.
The 2024 show will feature about 800 new exhibitors including Goodyear Tire & Rubber and agriculture and industrial equipment firm Kubota.
This will be the 58th annual CES. However, the organization behind the event will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of its original predecessor, the Radio Manufacturers Association.
Many people still refer to CES by its old name, the Consumer Electronics Show. But CES clearly has morphed into a general technology event, featuring pavilions devoted to automobiles, smart cities, health care, food tech, robotics and more.
AI Will Be In Everything At CES 2024
Of course, consumer electronics firms such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony will be on hand to unveil their latest audio and video products and other gadgets.
These will include smart televisions, home appliances, home security gear, wearable devices, music speakers and kitchen gadgets. And everything will be infused with AI, or at least marketed as such.
"It's literally everything," Marjorie Costello, editor and publisher of CE Online News, told IBD. "It's like what digital was 20 years ago. Everything has AI now. AI is in TVs, audio, cars, retail, health care, robots."
CES 2024 will feature more than 30 panel discussions on AI and its impact on various business segments. Executives and analysts are scheduled to tackle AI advancements in agriculture, entertainment, finance, health care, media, retail and transportation.
CES 2024 Art Made With Generative AI
The spotlight will also be on generative AI. The hot trend, which exploded last year, features software that enables users to create generally high-quality content, including articles, images and videos. Cloud service providers started offering those services following the late-2022 debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT and DALL-E.
Even the artwork used to promote CES 2024 was created with generative AI. The Consumer Technology Association hired creative agency Proof to do the imagery.
The team relied primarily on Midjourney for the AI-generated images and finished them with software tools mostly from Adobe, said Blake Maraoui, group account director at Proof. Proof developed nine unique digital people for the CES 2024 "All On" marketing campaign, which appears in online media and signage at the show. The characters are tied to tech product categories like headphones, virtual reality and digital health.
Edge AI, Ingredient Technologies
The show is also expected to focus on edge AI, including AI PCs and smartphones. With edge AI, the heavy lifting for some AI applications is done on a user's device, not in a remote cloud data center.
Intel is holding a media event on Jan. 8 at CES 2024 to promote AI PCs with partners Dell Technologies, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft. At an open house, the companies will show off a lineup of AI PCs coming in the year ahead.
A key aspect of CES is technology firms selling ingredient technologies that go into finished goods, including semiconductors, sensors, displays and other components.
Semiconductor firms at CES 2024 will be promoting their latest AI processors for data centers and edge devices including PCs, smartphones and headsets. Other chip companies will be pitching their latest wireless, memory, power management and other integrated circuits.
Consumer Electronics Still Main Part Of Show
Roughly 60% to 70% of CES will focus on consumer-facing technology, while the rest will be geared to businesses, Shapiro told IBD. "We estimate 30% to 40% of CES is business-to-business now," he said.
While the expo floor is typically impressive, about 40% of the show space is private meeting rooms, Shapiro said. Some companies prefer a quieter environment and a place to show products to customers away from the prying eyes of competitors.
Headsets At CES: You've Got To Be Putting Me On!
Consumer electronics giant Apple doesn't exhibit at CES, but the tech giant's presence will be felt as companies try to get in front of the Apple Vision Pro headset launch. Apple plans to launch its mixed-reality computer headset in early 2024.
Companies at CES 2024 showing off their augmented- and virtual-reality headsets include Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Vuzix, Xreal, Nimo Planet, DigiLens and Solos Technology.
CES 2024 also has a conference track devoted to AR, VR and extended reality, or XR.
Smart TV Focus On Streaming Platforms
Meanwhile, Hisense, LG, Samsung, TCL and Vizio will introduce their latest high-definition TVs at CES 2024. The emphasis will be on larger screen sizes, such as 100-inch-class displays, and innovations in smart TV operating systems, Costello said.
The focus will be on 4K high-definition sets rather than 8K ultra-high-definition sets, which debuted a few years ago. "I don't expect 8K to be buzzy," she said. "No one is talking about it. The problem is there's no content."
Additionally, TV software platforms have become increasingly important as companies look to gain advertising revenue from viewers amid the shift to streaming video. Among the third-party companies trying to gain TV OS market share are Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Roku.
Meanwhile, streaming video leader Netflix will be at CES 2024 to promote its upcoming sci-fi series "3 Body Problem" with an "immersive experience" on the show floor. The series premieres on March 21.
Netflix also will be at the CES C Space entertainment and marketing exhibition area to meet with partners and clients.
Electric Grills, Robots, Beauty Products
CES 2024 will feature plenty of electric grills. Electric grill maker Current Backyard will be camped out in the Central Plaza of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Other companies in the category include Middleby, Brisk It and SeerGrills.
Celebrity chef Esther Choi will offer food demos for Current Backyard. Meanwhile, chef Eric Gephart will demonstrate several smart grills launching in 2024 from Middleby grill brands Masterbuilt and Kamado Joe.
And it wouldn't be a CES without robots, lots of them. There will be robot vacuum cleaners, robot pool cleaners, robot bartenders, companion robots and more.
Yo-Kai Express will be showing its autonomous restaurant in a box. Its restaurant kiosks serve hot noodle bowl meals with ramen, pho and udon.
The show also will feature beauty tech products. L'Oreal Chief Executive Nicolas Hieronimus is among the keynote speakers. There will be demonstrations for products for skin care, hair care, cosmetics and other areas.
Tech startup Nimble Beauty will be on site with its Nimble Smart Nail Salon device, which uses AI and robotics for painting nails.
A surprise at the show could come from satellite communications firm Starlink, a unit of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX. Starlink is listed as an exhibitor on the CES website but without an exhibit location. Starlink officials did not respond to media inquiries.
CES 2024 As Automotive Show
Transportation will be another major theme. The focus is on electric vehicles, autonomy, advanced safety features, and in-car entertainment systems.
The show will feature about 300 auto and mobility companies.
"We're now the largest auto show in the world," Shapiro said. "We have half a million square feet of exhibit space" devoted to the sector.
Participating automakers include Germany's BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen; Japan's Honda Motor; South Korea's Kia and Hyundai; and Vietnam's VinFast Auto.
However, U.S. automakers will be absent from the 2024 show following disruptions from the autoworker strikes in late 2023. The Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — are skipping the show. Toyota is another no-show. Tesla has never exhibited at CES.
Land, Sea, Air Transportation Covered
At least two companies will be showing off "flying cars." Xpeng AeroHT, an affiliate of China's Xpeng Motors, will tout an electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft at CES 2024. Supernal, Hyundai Motor Group's Advanced Air Mobility company, also will be showing an eVTOL vehicle prototype.
Recreational boat maker Brunswick is cruising into CES to complete the land-sea-air transportation trifecta.
In addition to cars, CES 2024 will feature electric motorcycles, electric bikes and scooters.
Shift Robotics will be in the Central Plaza of the Las Vegas Convention Center demonstrating its electric skates, called Moonwalkers. Moonwalkers are "nano-mobility devices" that allow wearers to walk up to three times faster than normal.
Autonomous trucks from Gatik, Kodiak Robotics and Torc Robotics will be at CES 2024, as will robotaxi firm Zoox, a unit of Amazon.
Heavy equipment makers for the agriculture and construction industries are also joining the party. Exhibitors include Deere, Caterpillar, Hyundai and Doosan.
Who Will Advertise On The Sphere During CES?
The recently opened Sphere entertainment complex is certain to draw attention during the show. The exterior of the 366-foot-tall spherical structure consists of about 1.2 million LED pucks, spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 48 individual light-emitting diodes, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million different colors.
The Sphere has become an advertising hot spot in Las Vegas, especially during major events.
Sphere Entertainment declined to comment on which companies will be advertising on the exterior display of the Sphere during CES 2024.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
