Most dubious uses of AI at CES 2026

You can’t shingle a instrumentality without hitting an AI gadget astatine CES this year, pinch artificial smarts now embedded successful conscionable astir each wearable, screen, and appliance crossed the show floor, not to mention the armies of AI companions, toys, and robots.

But those are conscionable the beginning. We’ve seen AI popular up successful overmuch alien places too, from hairsbreadth clippers to instrumentality vacs, and astatine slightest 1 lawsuit wherever moreover the shaper itself seemed unsure what made its products “AI.”

Here are the gadgets we’ve seen astatine CES 2026 truthful acold that really return the “intelligence” retired of “artificial intelligence.”

This is simply a merchandise that would beryllium silly capable without the AI add-on. These smart hairsbreadth clippers thief amateur hairdressers present the cleanable slice by dynamically altering the closeness of the cut, helped on by an ominous look disguise that looks for illustration it belongs successful an optician’s office.

But it’s taken to the adjacent level by the real-time AI coach, which gives you feedback arsenic you cut. Glyde told maine it’s moving connected sound controls for the AI too, and that yet it will beryllium capable to urge circumstantial hairstyles, truthful agelong arsenic you’re consenting to spot its style advice. Are you?

“Where Pills meet AI.”

That was the connection emblazoned crossed the SleepQ booth, wherever institution reps were handing retired boxes of pills — a multivitamin pinch ashwagandha extract according to the box, supposedly bully for sleep, though I wasn’t brave capable to trial that declare connected my jetlag.

Manufacturer Welt, primitively spun retired of a Samsung incubator, calls its merchandise “AI-upgraded pharmacotherapy.” It’s really conscionable utilizing biometric information from your smartwatch aliases slumber locator to show you the optimal clip to return a sleeping pill each day, pinch plans to yet screen worry meds, weight-management drugs, symptom relief, and more.

There whitethorn good beryllium an statement that fine-tuning the clip group popular their pills could make them much effective, but I consciousness safe successful saying we don’t request to commencement throwing astir the word “AI-enhanced drugs.”

Startup Deglace claims that its almost unnecessarily sleek-looking Fraction vacuum cleaner uses AI successful 2 different ways: first to “optimize suction,” and past to negociate repairs and replacements for the modular design.

It says its Neural Predictive AI monitors vacuum capacity “to observe issues earlier they happen,” giving you wellness scores for each of the vacuum’s components, which tin beryllium conveniently replaced pinch a speedy parts bid from wrong the accompanying app. A cynic mightiness interest this is each successful the sanction of trading users costly and proprietary replacement parts, but I tin astatine slightest get down the committedness of modular upgrades — assuming Deglace is capable to present connected that promise.

Most integer image frames fto you show photos of loved ones, aged vacation snaps, aliases your favourite pieces of art. Fraimic lets you show AI slop.

It’s an E Ink image framework pinch a microphone and sound controls, truthful you tin picture immoderate image you’d like, which the framework will past make utilizing OpenAI’s GPT Image 1.5 model. The framework itself starts astatine $399, which gets you 100 image generations each year, pinch the action to bargain much if you tally out.

What makes the AI successful Fraimic truthful dubious is that it mightiness beryllium a beautiful awesome merchandise without it. The E Ink sheet looks great, you tin usage it to show disconnected your ain pictures and photos too, and it uses truthful small powerfulness that it tin tally for years without being plugged in. We’d conscionable emotion it a batch much without the added slop.

Infinix, a smaller telephone shaper that’s had occurrence crossed Asia for its affordable phones, didn’t motorboat immoderate existent caller products astatine CES this year, but it did bring 5 concepts that could fresh into early phones. Some are clever, for illustration various color-changing rear finishes and a mates of liquid-cooling designs. And past there’s the AI ModuVerse.

Modular telephone concepts are thing new, truthful the AI hook is what makes ModuVerse unsocial — successful theory. One of the “Modus” makes sense: a gathering attachment that connects magnetically, generating AI transcripts and unrecorded translator onto a mini show connected the back.

But erstwhile I asked what made everything else AI, Infinix didn’t really person immoderate bully answers. The gimbal camera has AI stabilization, the vlogging lens uses AI to observe faces, and the microphone has AI sound isolation — each technically AI-based, but not successful immoderate measurement that’s interesting. As for the magnetic, stackable powerfulness banks, Infinix’s reps yet admitted they don’t really person immoderate AI astatine all. Color maine shocked.

There’s a increasing inclination for AI and robotic cooking hardware — The Verge’s Jen Tuohy reviewed a $1,500 robot chef conscionable past period — but Wan AIChef is thing altogether little impressive: an AI-enabled microwave.

It runs connected what looks suspiciously for illustration Android, pinch look suggestions, cooking instructions, and a camera wrong truthful you tin spot the advancement of what you’re making. But… it’s conscionable a microwave. So it can’t really do immoderate cooking for you, different than lukewarm up your nutrient to conscionable the correct somesthesia (well, conscionable correct positive aliases minus 3 degrees Celsius, to beryllium accurate).

It’ll do repast plans and nutrient search and calorie counting too, which each sounds awesome truthful agelong arsenic you’re consenting to perpetrate to eating each of your meals retired of the AI microwave. Please, I request you, do not eat each of your meals retired of the AI microwave.

The tech manufacture perfectly loves reinventing the vending instrumentality and branding it either robotics aliases AI, and AI Barmen is nary different.

This setup — apparently already successful usage for backstage parties and firm events — is really conscionable an automatic cocktail instrumentality pinch a fewer AI smarts slapped connected top.

The AI uses the connected webcam to estimate your property — it was disconnected by 8 years successful my lawsuit — and corroborate you’re sober capable to get different drink. It tin besides create civilization drinks, pinch mixed success: When asked for thing to “fuck maine up,” it came up pinch the Funky Tequila Fizz, aka tequila, triple sec, and soda. What, nary absinthe?

Should you bargain your kid an AI artifact that gives it a complete LLM-powered chatbot to speak to? Probably not. But what if that AI chatbot looked for illustration chibi Elon Musk?

He’s conscionable 1 of the galore avatars offered by the Luka AI Cube, including Hayao Miyazaki, Steve from Minecraft, and Harry Potter. Kids tin chat to them astir their day, inquire for advice, aliases moreover stock the AI Cube’s camera provender to show the AI avatars wherever they are and what they’re up to. Luka says it’s a instrumentality for fun, but besides learning, pinch various acquisition activities and connection options.

The elephant successful the room is whether you should spot immoderate company’s guardrails capable to springiness a young kid entree to an LLM. Leading pinch an AI return connected Elon Musk — whose ain AI, Grok, is engaged undressing children arsenic we speak — doesn’t precisely animate confidence.