CES 2025: Marketers Hunt for Competitive-Edge Tech

The key is integrating AI in a way that makes it more consumer-friendly and interactive, said Brian Yamada, chief innovation officer at VML.

“It’s easy to picture a robot barista asking you about your day while making that latte,” Yamada said, expressing excitement about what this year’s show might bring. “Or playing memory games with an elderly relative while picking up their home for safety in case they fall.”

Personalization on the consumer’s terms

While the trend of personalization isn’t new, it’s at a new tipping point, according to BCG’s Mark Abraham.

“We have gone through the first wave of being able to generate more content with Gen AI,” Abraham said. The tech has improved its ability to generate complex audio and images, he said, and is on the cusp of high-quality video generation.

“How do companies go from pushing all that content out to just pushing what’s most relevant?” he asked. “What we’re going to see more in CES is these virtual assistants that allow customers to pull the personalization.”

As agentic AI gets better, personalization is also likely to make its mark in industries that have been slow on the uptake, like financial services and healthcare.

“I’m having a lot of discussions already with health companies [going to CES to showcase] how personalization can help us, for example, in the space of longevity and wellness,” Abraham said. As personalized test costs come down, he said, those companies are likely going to start using agentic AI solutions to support nutrition and wellness and mental health.