CES 2024 happened in January in Las Vegas, with attendance back to roughly pre-pandemic levels and the show floor dominated by AI in nearly every product category. The trend was unsurprising. The momentum from the previous year of generative AI development was always going to surface at CES. What was less expected was how much attention specific new hardware categories would attract.
The Humane AI Pin generated particular focus. The product was a small wearable that clipped to clothing, projected text onto a hand or surface as needed, and used voice as the primary interaction method. The pitch was that the AI Pin would replace the smartphone as the primary point of contact with AI services. The Rabbit R1, a small handheld device with a similar AI-first interaction model, attracted similar attention.
What CES 2024 surfaced was a particular bet on what AI integration into daily life would look like. The bet was that voice and minimal screen would be the right form factor for ambient AI assistance, and that consumers would adopt new dedicated devices to access these capabilities rather than expecting them to live inside the phones they already owned.
The bet would not pan out the way the most enthusiastic coverage suggested. The Humane AI Pin would launch later in 2024 to broadly negative reviews. The Rabbit R1 would face similar reception. The reasons varied across products but shared a pattern. The dedicated AI devices were trying to compete with smartphones at tasks the smartphones did acceptably well, while requiring users to carry an additional device for the privilege. The economic and practical case for that trade was not as obvious as the marketing implied.
CES 2024 also showcased AI integration into more conventional products in ways that turned out to be more durable. AI features in television sets, household appliances, and cars were less attention-grabbing but more consistent with how AI capability was actually getting absorbed into consumer products. The dedicated AI hardware moment turned out to be partly real and partly a marketing wave that did not survive contact with users.
The deeper question, which CES 2024 raised but did not resolve, was about what the right interface for AI services would actually be. The smartphone was holding its position as the primary point of access. The interesting question was what would change that, and when.