Let’s be honest, AI at CES 2025 was all about Nvidia

There have been many announcements about AI in the CES 2025 and most didn’t really matter. Seriously, huh a robot vacuum cleaner that can pick up dirty socks or TVs that can generate recipes? Meanwhile, Nvidia, the chipmaker powering the AI ​​revolution, is openly releasing models that allow robots to function in the real world. Everything else seems banal.

CEO Jensen Huang took the stage Monday and introduced a seminal AI model by name Cosmos that helps robots and autonomous vehicles understand the physical world, calling it “the ChatGPT moment for robotics.” It also announced a new name chip Thor for cars and trucks that use AI to process visual information coming from cameras and lidar sensors to lead the way in Level 4 autonomous driving. And Huang revealed A series of 50 GPUs for gaming and laptops which promises to deliver a huge leap in performance and a “breakthrough in AI-driven rendering” at a lower price than the 40 series (in most cases).

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CES is the largest consumer technology trade show in North America. Held in Las Vegas, it brings together the world’s best technology makers to showcase devices and concepts that may or may not reach consumers. It’s also a way for smaller companies to get in front of the press and fans to showcase what they’ve been working on. AI was the main trend last year. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, it showed ordinary users what generative AI was capable of. What followed was all the big tech companies launching their own AI products and seeing stock valuations soar in the process.

Now it seems that every company wants to integrate AI into their products in some way as a way to court the interest of investors and consumers, even as consumers shrug against AI-powered iPhones. Amidst the miasma of artificial intelligence flowing through Las Vegas showrooms, repetitive remixes of existing AI technologies can end up with a snake oil-like quality.

But the people chose stand in long lines to see Huangwho became a celebrity in his own right. His weird classifieds videos attracts millions of views, and his down-to-earth demeanor, plus his leather-jacket adornment, make him a likeable dealer in cutting-edge gaming graphics. And it’s paying off for Nvidia. At the beginning of January 2023 Nvidia shares were hovering around $15. With the AI ​​revolution, companies have been scrambling to buy Nvidia chips for the past two years to power their servers. After Huang’s keynote on Monday, stocks rose record high above $150 before cooling off a bit, but still represents about a tenfold increase in just two years.

It’s also worth noting how Nvidia’s technology seems to have pushed aside other players in the GPU space. Nvidia dominates the GPU market so strongly that AMD and Intel have been moved up to compete in the middleweight division. AMD announced a series of new mid-range GPUs, but changed the naming convention to better match Nvidia. For example, the AMD RX 9070 takes clear pictures of the 5070 cards, making it easy for users to compare the two. Intel has just recently entered the market of dedicated GPU cards after missing the moment in the processor space against Qualcomm, AMD and Nvidia. But it only tries to allocate space in the budget GPU category.

Fortunately, the past year has shown that AI hype can only go so far. AI wearables have failed to impress and on the market cooled on throwing billions in companies that release press releases with AI-polka dots. Next year’s CES will likely have its fair share of AI hype, most of which will likely be met with yawns — perhaps it should be renamed Nvidia Greenlight.

For the best of CES 2025check our must-haves from the show and on the most innovative products you can actually buy now.