CES 2025: An Exploration of AI Innovations

As we enter 2025, it seems the industry is still grappling with the true potential of artificial intelligence. This year's CES showcased an array of AI-powered products that raised eyebrows and left many questioning their practicality.

Among the notable gadgets was Spicerr, an "intelligent" spice dispenser featuring a touchscreen. It claims to learn your cooking preferences to suggest recipes. However, it raises a few questions: Is this device really necessary? It doesn't grind spices and relies on costly proprietary capsules that cannot be refilled. This makes one wonder if households were truly yearning for a spice dispenser that offers recipe suggestions.

AI Innovations in Cooking

Next on the list was Dreo's ChefMaker 2, an AI-powered air fryer. This device isn't as far-fetched as Spicerr. It can scan pages from cookbooks to pull recipes while calculating cooking times and temperatures. However, one must ponder if this feature is what air fryer users have been asking for.

CES 2025 also featured some truly bizarre AI inventions. Razer introduced Project Ava, an “AI gaming copilot.” This system is designed to assist players by providing tips while they game, capturing screen images with permission. While it aims to enhance gameplay by giving advice like "Dodge when the blade spins," it faces criticism for being a distraction and for potentially using uncredited gaming guide content.

The AI Hype Cycle

It seems that the bizarre AI offerings at CES reflect the overhyped nature of the current AI industry. In the previous year, AI companies in the U.S. raised a staggering $97 billion, indicating a rush to find applications for AI technologies, even when the market demand may not exist.

Many of these products highlight the industry's struggle to identify feasible AI applications. Often, this leads to inflated promises and disappointing results; for instance, AI models like ChatGPT can still produce inaccuracies, and image generators have limitations.

Ultimately, we find ourselves presented with questionable AI products: air fryers, spice dispensers, and gaming assistants that don't quite match consumer needs. They may reflect the current possibilities in AI development, but that doesn't mean they align with what people want. Here’s hoping for more relevant innovations in the future.

AI, CES, Gadgets