LAS VEGAS—As the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off another year, the world is about to get a sneak peek into the technology trends that are going to define the way we work, live, have fun, get around, and even fall in love going into 2024.
Not only is the week jam-packed with announcements from big players like Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and more about their newest product releases, but we’re also going to see scrappier startups and innovators make their pitch with some of the most understated—but impactful—tech products out there.
If the vendors on the show floor of CES are any indication, though, one thing is for sure: The future of tech is about to get incredibly weird.
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The Daily Beast was able to get a sneak peek of what’s to come at CES. Here are four ways that we think that your tech is going to change going into 2024—and beyond.
1. AI-Powered Everything
If 2023 was the year that generative artificial intelligence broke into the mainstream, 2024 is going to be the year it reaches critical mass.
On Monday, Volkswagen announced that it would be integrating ChatGPT into seven of its car models. This will allow users to easily control features in their car like the air conditioner, locks, and windows via voice commands. Drivers will also be able to ask their cars questions and even converse with it—not unlike Kitt in Nightrider.
The Volkswagen incorporating ChatGPT into their vehicles to allow drivers to converse with their cars.
VolkswagenWe’re also going to see the rise of so-called “digital twins,” which are essentially virtual replicas of real-world objects, locations, and even people. Companies like Maum.AI want to help you build digital humans to help with things like customer service.
At CES, it’s clearer than ever that AI is shining bright in the spotlight—and its moment isn’t going to be dimming any time soon.
2. Your House Is Getting Automated to Death
There’s a good chance your home is going to have more robots than people in it one day. At least, that’s the impression you’d get by looking around at CES.
From a lawn-cutting robot from Mammation, to an AI-powered microwave from Panasonic that can cook anything in your fridge and pantry with a single app, there’s going to be no shortage of ways to automate your life.
Take the Perfecta, a grill from Seer Grill that uses AI to perfectly cook a steak in less than three minutes.
Or the I-Robo, a robot that creates stir-fry dishes for restaurants and cafeterias all across the globe.
LG Electronics will also be showing off its “Smart Home AI Agent,” which is a—frankly—creepy AI-powered robot that’s able to move around your house on two wheels like a nightmarish robot pet. The bot utilizes a multi-modal AI that allows it to recognize voice and images. Like the Volkswagen AI, users will be able to chat with it and ask it questions.
The bot also comes with an array of cameras and sensors that LG says will allow it to do things like pet monitoring, or even keeping the house secure.
The Smart Home AI Agent from LG.
LG3. VR/AR Is Bigger Than Ever
The week of CES started off with a bang—but not from its show floor in Las Vegas. Instead, it came all the way from Cupertino, California, from the campus of Apple Park. The company announced Monday that the Apple Vision Pro headset would be released on Feb. 2—officially setting the bar for every VR/AR exhibitor at CES.
And there are plenty of them too. At CES, AR company Xreal unveiled the Air 2 Ultra, a $699 set of AR sunglasses that seems to be positioning itself as the much cheaper alternative to the Vision Pro’s $3,499 price tag. Similarly, TCL—which announced a behemoth 115-inch TV on Monday—unveiled their RayNeo X2 Lite glasses that offers a slightly more limited array of AR capabilities but includes an AI assistant, photography, and video recordings.
Outside of that, there’s also a big cohort of exhibitors showcasing tech to support VR/AR like bHaptics, a South Korea-based startup developing haptic vests and gloves that allow users to feel things in virtual reality. In a demo for The Daily Beast, bHaptics showed how the vest and gloves vibrate in response to stimulus in VR video games such as being shot with a gun or stabbed with a syringe.
The Daily Beast's intrepid reporter tests bHaptics' products. Their haptic vests, gloves, and wrist bands allow players to "feel" stimulus in virtual reality like gunshots and stabs.
Tony Ho Tran4. Tech Is Coming for Nature
Tech companies are leaning into our newfound, pandemic-driven passion for things like birding and pet care with a host of new products aimed at digitizing our love of the outdoors.
Take the smart collars from Minitailz, which essentially acts as a smartwatch or health wearable for your dog. It’ll track things like their heart rate, steps taken, and even their playing time to make sure that pet parents can be as health-obsessed with their pooch as they are with themselves.
Smart collars from Minitailz, which essentially acts as a smartwatch or health wearable for your dog.
Tony Ho TranThere’s also the AX Visio from Swarovski Optik for the birders for whom money is no object. The AI-powered binoculars include a digital display in the optic to identify the species of 8,000 different birds for the user. (With a price tag of $5,889, though, you might just want to stick with the old binoculars you got from your grandparents.)
Speaking of birds, the folks at Bird Buddy have unveiled a Smart Hummingbird Feeder, a bird feeder that includes a waterproof camera that automatically captures images and videos of any hungry birds that stop by to eat. The company’s software is capable of identifying upwards of 350 different bird species that record themselves into an app on your phone whenever it spots a bird.
As we go further into 2024, we’ll no doubt see new tech trends rise and fall. No matter what, though, always remember: It’s always going to find a way to surprise you.
Just get ready for things to get kind of weird.
