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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1515807
With AI being hyped everywhere you turned at the show, there were several key panel discussions and sessions at the Aria discussing the strengths, weaknesses of self-regulation of the systems and products/services including one headed by SAG-AFTRA’s Danielle Van Lier. The sessions weren’t as exciting as the bright, shiny, intelligent stuff on the show floor, but it was also at least as important since the panelists discussed the benefits, issues and pitfalls they and others faced in using the technology. Clarissa Season, chief experience officer at ad agency Annalect, discussed how their organization is developing and testing AI-products and the need to use it as an inspiration and not an absolute for human thought. Borrowing from Spider-Man, she reminded the audience, “With great power comes great responsibility,” emphasizing that there needs to be intentional and thoughtful interaction with AI. In other words, the value/benefits may sometimes be questionable. But enough of the serious stuff, there was still a lot of great and sometimes questionable stuff to see at CES. While they weren’t as prevalent as in years past, there were still a lot of robots this year, some big enough to roll over you and others small enough to stumble over. Kodiak introduced their sixth-generation robo truck which, when it’s finally cleared to hit the road, won’t include a safety driver on the open road but a driver on board for making its way through local streets. Agricultural giant John Deere has been a big green giant at CES for years and this year spotlighted some of their AI/robotic field preparation and production equipment, including a new self-driving cotton picker. But if you’re looking for a robotic companion to keep you company, you’ll be glad to know that Samsung has refreshed and brought back their Ballie which is cute but really doesn’t do a whole lot. Yes, there were multiple flavors of home robots including a barista. Rabbit R1 will undoubtedly find its way into a lot of guy’s/gal’s pockets this year. Smaller than your iPhone; it has a camera, SIM card slot and supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The unit’s AI assistant talks to your apps and does everything for you like queuing up your music playlist, booking a car service and planning/booking trips simply by talking to it. Very intuitive and priced of $200, it’s already on backorder but no, it won’t make calls for you … yet. There were fewer autos at this year’s show but with the wave of AI and autonomy, we’re sure they’ll be back next year. It’s okay from our perspective because to be honest, most (any) will get you from point A to point B but very few have