AI at CES 2024: Take a Look at the Coolest Tech From the Show

At CES 2024, artificial intelligence was all over the place. Whether it referred to generative AI or the more general artificial intelligence that's been around for years, AI was the new hot-button catchphrase and was almost impossible to avoid. 

Take a look at several of the more creative and interesting implementations of AI at this year's big electronics trade show (and be sure to check out our Best of Show winners for CES).

With winter storms hitting much of the US, this snow blower from Yarbo was one of the best timed product announcements of CES. It might not be able to help you write emails, but this fully automated machine uses object avoidance and mapping features to clear all your snow while you watch comfortably from inside.

Yarbo's snow blower rotates 180 degrees and can blow snow up to 40 feet. It can independently handle snowdrifts up to 16 inches.

The Anura MagicMirror, made by digital health company NuraLogix, is the first mirror of its kind that analyzes the blood flow in your face to check vitals like blood pressure and estimate your risk of heart disease. It also guesses your age based on your skin, as well as how stressed you might be. It won't be marketed toward consumers for home use, at least right now. Instead, you could soon see it in gyms, clinics, businesses and other places people are monitoring their health and may not mind sitting down in front of a mirror to do so.

The MagicMirror uses NuraLogix's Affective AI technology, DeepAffex. As the use of AI advances, refining both pattern recognition in medicine and at-home wellness tracking, the idea of a device like the MagicMirror may become less far-fetched. 

While you worry about AI bringing about the end of humanity, you might as well use it to get a good night's sleep. DeRucci is a Chinese sleep health company that announced an AI-powered mattress and smart pillow that promise to help you sleep better. The mattress features 23 sensors that monitor small changes in temperature, sleep position and heart rate throughout the night. It also has a layer of air bags that respond to changes in position to better support your spine, neck and hips. It uses AI to adjust everything to your body shape and sleep position and will alert you to any potential health issues arising from your sleep data.   

DeRucci's smart pillow aims to combat snoring by monitoring for slight movement that may indicate snoring. When it recognizes that a sleeper is snoring, it intervenes by adjusting the loft and moving the position of a sleeper's head. In addition to reducing snoring, the goal is to reduce the risk of sleep apnea. According to an internal clinical study, the company says its pillow can reduce snoring up to 89%. You may, however, pass out when you discover that the pillow is expected to cost nearly $1,000 with the mattress priced at more than $8,000.

Based on Intel's latest Core Ultra processors, the new HP Spectre x360 14 is an example of an AI laptop, and one you can buy right now. The Core Ultra chips are designed to handle AI workloads more efficiently than previous chips. In addition to CPU and GPU cores, these new mobile processors feature a neural processing unit, or NPU. It's a low-power, dual-core chip designed to handle minor repetitive tasks to free up the CPU and GPU for heavier lifts and extend battery life. The NPU is put to use for AI detection in image and video editing, for example, or blurring the background and reducing background noise a video calls.

Lenovo's Magic Bay is the company's external expansion system that lets you snap on a webcam or light module via pogo pins to the top of one of its laptops. The latest Magic Bay concept is a cute little robot that changes facial expressions as it watches you from above the display. It can do little more than blink and smile right now, but Lenovo sees a future where the Magic Bay Robot is given a speaker and microphone so that it can serve as a voice-enabled, AI-powered assistant. So, like Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT but with a friendly face.

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Replica Studios made a big AI announcement at CES. SAG-AFTRA, the world's largest labor union representing performers, and Replica, an AI voice technology company, entered into an agreement that will pay voice actors for licensing digital replicas of their voices for use in video games. It marks the first time a group such as SAG-AFTRA has attempted to codify consent and compensation for AI replicas of performer voices.

Smartphones have existed for more than a decade, but the software that powers those devices hasn't changed much on a fundamental level. Using your phone still largely involves opening apps to get things done. Google sees advancements in AI as a big part of where phones are headed. 

That's already starting to happen on Android broadly and Google's Pixel phones more specifically with AI-powered features that can rewrite text messages in a different tone or move objects in photos. The next step, however, could be a more dramatic change to your phone's underlying interface. New phones will likely have more powerful chips designed to process that kind of data on device rather than in the cloud. Google's latest Tensor processor and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which is expected to arrive in new phones throughout 2024, have both been developed with this in mind.

A new company says its phone app can "translate" your baby's cries and tell you whether they're hungry, uncomfortable, tired or in need of a diaper change. Using AI and machine learning to decipher an infant's needs, Cappella claims its technology is about 95% accurate -- that's versus roughly 30% for humans who try to guess their babies' needs. The app costs $10 a month, and Cappella is still working on temperature -- whether your baby is crying because they're too hot or cold -- as another data point for analysis. Never mind the babies, I want a canine bark translator so I can converse with my dog.

This robot can't translate your dog's barks but will keep it company while you're away. The Oro Dog Companion Robot has a two-way audio and a video screen so you can interact with your dog remotely, and a built-in dispenser launches treats on command. There's even a ball thrower mechanism that will play fetch as long as your pup knows to bring the ball back. And a separate automatic food bowl releases food on schedule. 

Oro can also navigate the home autonomously using an advanced camera and lidar-based mapping system to tag along with your pup and clue you in on the action. And the bot's AI learning helps it get to know your doggo. Oro aims to learn your dog's behavior patterns and snap into action with soothing music or physical interaction when it senses distress, restlessness or the desire to play. Because distress manifests differently in different dogs, Oro comes programmed to recognize audible and physical signs of distress in 10 of the most popular domestic breeds.

The Rabbit R1 is a $199 device designed to simplify the tasks you do with your phone -- streaming a playlist, ordering takeout, booking travel -- by removing phone apps from the process. Press a button and tell the R1 what you want to do and the little AI digital assistant in a box will do the heavy lifting using secure cloud-based apps. 

Samsung's Ballie personal assistant robot has been updated with a new design, onboard projector and AI features. The robot can act like an AI pet in your house, including walking around and coming to you when called.

The robot also includes a projector that Samsung says can automatically detect the posture and facial angle of people in the room, allowing it to adjust the projection angle accordingly.

The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro gaming phone includes the AI-focused Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which Asus is using to power several new features. These include Semantic Search, for processing anything entered into the search boxes in the launcher, device settings or the photo gallery. 

The Phone 8 also gets an AI noise-canceling feature for voice and video calls, along with an AI wallpaper generator you can use to whip up a design based on selected objects, tones and other backgrounds.

Samsung's line of 8K QLED models will have AI image upscaling that can convert standard definition content all the way up to an 8K resolution, which the company says is an industry first. Samsung is also using AI in other ways, including creating AI generated images and automatically switching TV modes based on the type of content being played.

Samsung fans, the latest unpacked event is around the corner. It'll likely feature the Galaxy S24, along with new AI tech. Here's what to expect.

ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that took the world by storm a couple of years back, is coming to Volkswagen's line of EVs, including the ID 3, ID 4 and ID 5. The AI chatbot will also be coming to the gas-powered Tiguan, Passat and Golf. Soon, owners will be able to ask their cars for a good Chinese restaurant nearby. 

Want to know everything about AI chatbots? Learn how this tech will change everything. 

The 2024 LG G4 and M4 will get the Alpha 11 processor, a chip that can use AI to enhance clarity, color and sharpness.

Dell's new line of XPS laptops will have a built-in Microsoft Copilot key. Copilot is Microsoft's generative AI companion that can help you summarize documents, search the net or create generative images. It's part of Microsoft's push to be a leader in AI. 

Seer Grill's new AI-controlled Perfecta aims to get better over time. As you grill meats vertically in the Perfecta, the AI will learn and get better at cooking, according to Seer Grill. 

The Oclean X Ultra Wi-Fi Digital Toothbrush is an AI-powered toothbrush that'll give you feedback on your brushing. Using bone conduction technology, the Oclean X Ultra will actually talk to you, with tips on how to improve. 

AI won't just change the world of oral care, it might change medicine altogether.