BOTS
Kiki, designed as a children’s “pet”, learns human behaviour over time and can identify its surroundings, remember people and track an individual by moving its head. Sophia the robot is flanked by her creator David Hanson (left) and CNET’s Ashley Esqueda during an interview at CES. A Bosch representative stands near an autonomous shuttle on display at the Bosch booth.
The battle among virtual assistants is shaping up to be very different from past platform wars between tech companies because consumers will have more choices. Many of the smart gadgets at CES worked with multiple virtual assistants.
Aaron Emigh, chief executive of Brilliant, which makes smart home products that work with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, said it was critical for virtual assistants to work together, not against one another, because the smart home was already too complex, with products like light switches, thermostats and cameras coming from different brands.
“The more technology and the more different vendors that get put in your home, the more important that it all works together,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US Consumer Technology Association says AI and connected technologies are driving the US consumer tech industry to a record