Most doubtful makes use of of AI at CES 2026

You can’t shake a stick with out hitting an AI gadget at CES this 12 months, with synthetic smarts now embedded in nearly each wearable, display, and equipment throughout the present ground, to not point out the armies of AI companions, toys, and robots.

But these are just the start. We’ve seen AI pop up in a lot stranger locations too, from hair clippers to stay vacs, and a minimum of one case the place even the producer itself appeared not sure what made its merchandise “AI.”

Here are the devices we’ve seen at CES 2026 to this point that actually take the “intelligence” out of “artificial intelligence.”

Glyde good hair clippers

This is a product that will be foolish sufficient with out the AI add-on. These good hair clippers assist beginner hairdressers ship the proper fade by dynamically altering the closeness of the lower, helped alongside by an ominous face masks that appears prefer it belongs in an optician’s workplace.

But it’s taken to the subsequent stage by the real-time AI coach, which supplies you suggestions as you narrow. Glyde informed me it’s engaged on voice controls for the AI too, and that ultimately will probably be capable of suggest particular hairstyles, as long as you’re prepared to belief its fashion recommendation. Are you?

“Where Pills meet AI.”

That was the message emblazoned throughout the SleepQ sales space, the place firm reps had been handing out packing containers of drugs — a multivitamin with ashwagandha extract in accordance with the field, supposedly good for sleep, although I wasn’t courageous sufficient to check that declare on my jetlag.

Manufacturer Welt, initially spun out of a Samsung incubator, calls its product “AI-upgraded pharmacotherapy.” It’s actually simply utilizing biometric knowledge out of your smartwatch or sleep tracker to inform you the optimum time to take a sleeping tablet every day, with plans to ultimately cowl anxiousness meds, weight-management medication, ache reduction, and extra.

There might be an argument that fine-tuning the time folks pop their drugs might make them more practical, however I really feel secure in saying we don’t want to begin throwing across the time period “AI-enhanced drugs.”

Startup Deglace claims that its virtually unnecessarily sleek-looking Fraction vacuum cleaner makes use of AI in two alternative ways: first to “optimize suction,” after which to handle repairs and replacements for the modular design.

It says its Neural Predictive AI displays vacuum efficiency “to detect issues before they happen,” providing you with well being scores for every of the vacuum’s elements, which might be conveniently changed with a fast components order from throughout the accompanying app. A cynic may fear that is all within the identify of promoting customers costly and proprietary substitute components, however I can a minimum of get behind the promise of modular upgrades — assuming Deglace is ready to ship on that promise.

Most digital image frames allow you to show photographs of family members, outdated vacation snaps, or your favourite items of artwork. Fraimic allows you to show AI slop.

It’s an E Ink image body with a microphone and voice controls, so you’ll be able to describe no matter image you’d like, which the body will then generate utilizing OpenAI’s GPT Image 1.5 mannequin. The body itself begins at $399, which will get you 100 picture generations every year, with the choice to purchase extra should you run out.

What makes the AI in Fraimic so doubtful is that it is likely to be a fairly nice product with out it. The E Ink panel seems to be nice, you should use it to point out off your personal footage and photographs too, and it makes use of so little energy that it could possibly run for years with out being plugged in. We’d simply like it much more with out the added slop.

Infinix, a smaller cellphone producer that’s had success throughout Asia for its inexpensive telephones, didn’t launch any precise new merchandise at CES this 12 months, nevertheless it did carry 5 ideas that would match into future telephones. Some are intelligent, like varied color-changing rear finishes and a few liquid-cooling designs. And then there’s the AI ModuVerse.

Modular cellphone ideas are nothing new, so the AI hook is what makes ModuVerse distinctive — in idea. One of the “Modus” is sensible: a gathering attachment that connects magnetically, producing AI transcripts and stay translation onto a mini show on the again.

But after I requested what made all the pieces else AI, Infinix didn’t actually have any good solutions. The gimbal digital camera has AI stabilization, the vlogging lens makes use of AI to detect faces, and the microphone has AI voice isolation — all technically AI-based, however not in any manner that’s attention-grabbing. As for the magnetic, stackable energy banks, Infinix’s reps ultimately admitted they don’t actually have any AI in any respect. Color me shocked.

There’s a rising pattern for AI and robotic cooking {hardware} — The Verge’s Jen Tuohy reviewed a $1,500 robotic chef simply final month — however Wan AIChef is one thing altogether much less spectacular: an AI-enabled microwave.

It runs on what seems to be suspiciously like Android, with recipe ideas, cooking directions, and a digital camera inside so you’ll be able to see the progress of what you’re making. But… it’s only a microwave. So it could possibly’t really do any cooking for you, aside from heat up your meals to simply the proper temperature (effectively, good plus or minus 3 levels Celsius, to be correct).

It’ll do meal plans and meals monitoring and calorie counting too, which all sounds nice as long as you’re prepared to decide to consuming your entire meals out of the AI microwave. Please, I encourage you, don’t eat your entire meals out of the AI microwave.

The tech business completely loves reinventing the merchandising machine and branding it both robotics or AI, and AI Barmen isn’t any completely different.

This setup — apparently already in use for personal events and company occasions — is absolutely simply an automated cocktail machine with just a few AI smarts slapped on high.

The AI makes use of the linked webcam to estimate your age — it was off by eight years in my case — and ensure you’re sober sufficient to get one other drink. It also can create customized drinks, with combined success: When requested for one thing to “fuck me up,” it got here up with the Funky Tequila Fizz, aka tequila, triple sec, and soda. What, no absinthe?

Should you purchase your child an AI toy that offers it a whole LLM-powered chatbot to talk to? Probably not. But what if that AI chatbot seemed like chibi Elon Musk?

He’s simply one of many many avatars provided by the Luka AI Cube, together with Hayao Miyazaki, Steve from Minecraft, and Harry Potter. Kids can chat to them about their day, ask for recommendation, and even share the AI Cube’s digital camera feed to point out the AI avatars the place they’re and what they’re as much as. Luka says it’s a device for enjoyable, but in addition studying, with varied instructional actions and language choices.

The elephant within the room is whether or not it’s best to belief any firm’s guardrails sufficient to present a younger child entry to an LLM. Leading with an AI tackle Elon Musk — whose personal AI, Grok, is busy undressing kids as we converse — doesn’t precisely encourage confidence.