My first CES show was in 2004, since that show I have been to CES a total of four times. By allowing at least five years between shows, I expect to see step changes in tech rather than small iterations. Unfortunately what I saw in 2025 was very incremental compared to 2020. After the 2020 show which I called the Covid show as it seemed to me to be the super spreader event before lockdowns I penned this post: Insights from Three Decades at CES. In 2025 I went to Las Vegas expecting to be wowed by the consumerization of AI and left mainly disappointed in the use cases. Jared Newman wrote a great article for Fast Company titled “ CES was a giant exercise in AI gaslighting”. I completely agree with his assessment. So many of the products that I saw were “AI enabled” which was buzzworthy jargon for nothing really new going on here.

As I walked to the hotel shuttle to the Las Vegas Convention Center one morning, I struck up a conversation with a journalist who focuses on AI. His take is that AI is supposed to be invisible to the end user. While I understand his position, I want to know that my consumer tech is smarter and tailoring the experience to me via AI. That did not seem to be the case for much of what I saw. Of course there were futuristic flying vehicles, robots, humanoids and autonomous farm vehicles on display, but all of those items were just newer versions of the same tech I saw in 2020.

There were lots of EVs on display at the 2020 and 2025 shows. What was different was that at the 2020 show was that Rivian, Ford and GM were showcasing American made EVs. The 2025 show was dominated by Asian vehicle makers like Xpeng, Honda, Sony and Zeekr. The only cool American brand I saw was Scout. This shows how the American auto makers are losing serious ground to Asian rivals as the pursuit to go electric is leaving the US market in the dust.

There were a few consumer oriented tech products that caught my eye, not because they were new but because I had read about them in advanced, but got to see then first hand. Two of those products which will probably make the 2025 Groove Management Techie Gift Guide include Insta360’s Dual Camera AI Video Bar which is a professional level video conferencing camera and soundbar. Featuring two 4K cameras the video bar provides a wide angle view of a conference room and then uses AI face tracking to zoom in on the speaker. This provides an emmersive experience and can even zoom in on a whiteboard in whiteboard mode. This tech is already commercially available but it was cool to see it in action. If interested purchasing please use my affiliate code: INR04DQ.

The other consumer product that impressed me was Hisense’s Canvas TV which is their version of Samsung’s The Frame TV. I have a Hisense 65” U8H Micro-LED TV and the picture quality is fantastic and I love the Google TV operating system. The Hisense Canvas TV is available in 55” and 65” configurations. The TV has presence sensing which turns the artwork on when you enter the room and then puts the TV in sleep mode when no one is in the room. This helps with power consumption. The TV has lots of cool artwork and smart features included. You can order the TV now Hisense CanvasTV

The most creepy thing I saw at CES this year was the humanoid robot by realbotix. This is a lifelike robot that is powered by AI. She looks sultry and is named Melody. The robot is supposed to provide intimate companionship, but it just came across as creepy. The delayed response as the AI processes questions and conversation made it even more awkward, but I see the potential for making the robots of the future appear more human. At least this was one of the few things I saw that was provocative and cutting edge.

While it was a fun few days in Las Vegas, my hope is that when I return to the show in 2030 there will be considerably more progress having been made versus over the past five years. The 2025 show was mostly a disappointment. It seems that we have reached a plateau in consumer electronics, it is my hope the next step change is considerably larger and more impressive.