CES 2018: The future is now

CES 2018 shows how Artificial Intelligence is taking over

Fifty years ago, when the first Consumer Electronics Show was held, it is unlikely that anybody would have envisaged that the CES would one day feature smart cat litter trays. But that was indeed one of many exotic items on show during the 2018 edition in Las Vegas. This is the era of Artificial Intelligence, which, allied to Internet of Things (IoT), is being applied to the management of feline poop, among other things. There were over 2,000 exhibitors and close to 180,000 delegates at this event. The AI-IoT nexus has altered the scope and nature of consumer electronics in the past five years; it is becoming all-pervasive and is being deployed to add new features to familiar devices as well as create entirely new concept devices. The CES is, therefore, no longer just about bigger and better display screens, smart wearables and virtual reality headsets. Of course, there were plenty of such devices on display, including a 65-inch screen that can be rolled up like a mat.

Today the CES is a platform for showcasing smart home appliances, including robot pets that do not need litter trays and vacuum cleaners that respond to voice commands. It is where you see smart fridges run by AIs that keep an inventory of groceries and display their contents via doors that turn into screens. This generation of AIs can handle home security systems and run a smart home — switching on the lights, keeping track of movements and playing music on demand. Most of these products are voice-controlled, or one-touch. This is also, in many ways, the most important global automobile expo.

Autonomous vehicles and very smart concept cars are shown here for the first time. It helps that Nevada allows driverless vehicles to run on public roads, allowing potential buyers to take these vehicles for a spin. In fact, CES delegates this year were being ferried by driverless vehicles. The first all-electric sports car, which is almost noiseless and non-polluting and is capable of performance that rivals those of high-end internal combustion vehicles, was also revealed here. Apart from cars, companies display concept chipsets that can run driverless cars and new devices that will integrate with vehicles to offer in-trip entertainment, navigation and weather reports, assessments of driving skills and tests for alcohol impairment.

This year’s themes were clearly clustered around two devices that are becoming the default standard for home AI. One is Amazon’s Alexa, the other is Google Assistant. Both are voice-assisted AI programmes that can run multiple things by design (Amazon calls it “skills”) and learn to run even more. Almost every new home appliance or entertainment gadget displayed at CES 2018 was advertised as either being compatible with Alexa or Google Assistant, or both.

One of the new areas where AI could make a major difference is in the enabling and monitoring of individuals with health problems, paralysis or dementia.
 

The displays included wearable smart pyjama suits that monitor heartbeat, detect erratic physical movements and other signs of distress. There was also a robotic voice-controlled wheelchair and robotic gloves for use by the paralysed. A new Virtual Reality headset measures brain activity while the user is playing games or just moving around in imaginary landscapes. Another VR headset features games that simulate gym workouts — using a weapon in a virtual game actually involves using the relevant muscles.

Some of this gadgetry will not make it to the shopping catalogues, but a lot of it is already commercially available, and some, indeed, will be on the shelves soon. More than any specific device, it is the sheer range of gadgets that indicates how our lives will change radically and irrevocably as AI becomes the mainstream technology.