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CES 2024: AI, Sustainability, Inclusivity and Living Technology

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Our cross sector team enjoyed connecting with colleagues and friends at CES 2024 as well as taking a peek into the future. Our key takeaway: AI and sustainability were everywhere. AI applications and sustainability advances were featured in every sector from health tech advancements such as telehealth and self-monitoring devices to autonomous and electric vehicles. Inclusivity was also in the forefront with customer experience central to many new technologies, including a particular focus on the experience of underrepresented customers.

We saw the expansion across all sectors of the themes we identified following previous CES experiences as far back as 2020.  While much attention is rightly focused on technological advancement, one sees the impact of these trends most clearly by looking at how that technology is deployed to ultimately benefit the experiences of individuals.  

In 2020, we analyzed how developments in mobility related technologies should be viewed from the consumer’s perspective rather than a company’s business model.  We used the term “Living Mobility” to describe how new technologies would change the way people lived by making their mobility environment more inclusive, objective, sustainable and unifying.

These trends are now evident in many sectors.  We now believe that “Living Mobility” can be more broadly reframed as “Living Technology” because once one moves beyond the technology itself its value is ultimately determined by how it changes our lives and the collective life of our communities.  

Sometimes significant observations are not found in the formal displays but are evident in conversations.  Across sectors some concerns are constant:  the challenges of geopolitical competition and supply chain issues, privacy and cybersecurity, and evolving regulatory regimes.

This was clearly the “breakout” year for AI at CES.  The opportunities and challenges are astounding and invigorating.  Our team is ready to help businesses in virtually every sector to embrace the future with all its many opportunities and challenges as these businesses seek to make our lives better. 

Below are observations from our sectors:

Advanced Aviation – Flying, electric, automated air taxis promise incredible societal benefits but also face integration challenges, including regulatory frameworks that do not fit, or fit awkwardly with, emerging technologies. (Objective, Sustainable)

Communications, Internet, and Media – Integrating AI into mobile devices will allow consumers to experience, and benefit from, the predictive powers of AI. (Unifying)

Consumer – Glasses providing reading assistance to those with dyslexia were one of many products on display designed for underrepresented consumers. (Inclusive)

Technology – Transparent TV display screens delivered a futuristic visual with the promise of a unique, individualized customer experience. (Inclusive, Unifying)

Automotive and Mobility – Innovative ways of moving/steering/turning can have a significant impact, including on various legal rules governing these new technologies. (Sustainable, Inclusive)

Sports, Media, and Entertainment – Game developers are using software capable of converting sound signals into visual ques for gamers with hearing impairments allowing them to visually perceive sound while also enhancing the experience of the general gaming population. (Inclusive, Unifying, Objective)

Transportation and Logistics – Advances in hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization, have the potential to transform transportation, including automotive, rail, and shipping. (Sustainable, Unifying)

 

 

Authored by Patrick Ayad, Lance Bultena, Earl Adams, John Brockland, Celine Crowson, Lisa Ellman, Ari Fitzgerald, Valerie Kenyon, Henrik Lehment, Damon Lewis, Katy Milner, Sebastian Polly, Joanne Rotondi, Craig Umbaugh, William Yavinsky, and Sam Zimmerman.

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