WIRED photographer Alex Welsh captures the madness, glory, and techno-idealism of the consumer gadget extravaganza.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
The frenzied and intoxicating showcase for consumer technology known as CES took place this week in Las Vegas. Every January, the industry’s big shindig descends on this city in the Nevada desert, drawing tech manufacturers, retailers, distributors, members of the press, gadget fans, and regular old lookie-loos into the fray. The Las Vegas Convention Center, hotel expo halls, nightclubs, restaurants, and event centers are stuffed with talking screens, self-driving cars, flying cars, self-adjusting audio speakers, and ChatGPT-enabled appliances for the smart home. Indeed, this is the year that AI ate everything in sight; old products were freshened up by an injection of machine intelligence, and new products were launched to help people interface with these new generative tools. Our photographer Alex Welsh captured some of this consumer tech revolution in full swing as he roamed the halls of CES 2024.
More CES 2024 Coverage
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Touch and Go
Attendees take in a demonstration of automotive semiconductor tech from TCL. The company’s CSOT division makes in-car touchscreen displays and smart controls for drivers and passengers.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
Strap into the metaverse and enjoy the new sensations.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Sony Driveman
Sony’s Afeela car—first shown last year and still a prototype this year—attracted lots of attention on the CES 2024 show floor. The Afeela is stuffed with spatial sensors, touchscreen displays for every rider, and other advanced hardware. Of course, it also has advanced assisted-driving tech and a conversational AI assistant built in.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Space Recliner
There were plenty of opportunities to relax and take a break.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Robo Boba
Richtech’s robot barista, named Adam, has an iced oat latte for you. Adam can also make cocktails, pour beers, and brew boba tea.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Hands On
Attendees watch a demonstration of a robotic limb at the Siemens booth. The company’s digital modeling tech is being used by the startup Unlimited Tomorrow to 3D-print articulated prosthetics for people who are missing limbs.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Robotic Rubdown
The booths showing off the latest massage chairs, like Bodyfriend, are always popular.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Light Work
CES is content-capture heaven.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
All-Seeing Eyes
The images on the screens show you the many different kinds of visual and spatial information the sensor array on the roof of the car is seeing.
Photograph: Alex Welsh
Car Talk
The auto industry was out in full force at CES 2024. All of the cars on display attracted big crowds, and many of them had AI capabilities. One of the persistent trends this year was to add ChatGPT capability and other new types of conversational tech to cars. Voice controls have been in cars for a decade, and the ChatGPT tools will certainly evolve, but for now its abilities are limited to simple stuff like GPS navigation, web searches, phone calls, and changing the environmental settings.
Michael Calore oversees WIRED’s consumer products coverage in print and on the web, and is one of the hosts of WIRED’s weekly podcast, Gadget Lab. As a writer, he covers a range of topics including music, film, art, software, social media, and underground culture.
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