More than an annual tech showcase, CES 2025 marked the dawn of the agentic era, a manifesto for the next chapter of human-machine interaction.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a major trade show held every January in Las Vegas, featuring consumer electronics, audio/video, computer hardware and software. At CES 2025, the event wasn’t about shiny gadgets; it was about recalibrating how we engage with a world where technology doesn’t wait for us to lead. Here’s the pulse of what was coming, who was winning, and the blind spots we couldn’t afford to ignore. Toby Daniels, Founder, ON_Discourse, explored the top trends from CES 2025 in Las Vegas:
CES 2025 Trends
Proactive AI: The New Partner in Power
Reactive systems? Obsolete. CES 2025 cemented the rise of AI systems that think, decide, and act, before you do. Retail demos spotlighted AI that monitored customer patterns and deployed targeted strategies to optimize sales. It’s no longer assistive; it’s agentic.
But let’s ask the hard questions: When AI is “acting on our behalf,” who holds the reins? The retailers raved about efficiency, but the subtext was chilling. Are we ready to trust machines to outthink us in every domain, or are we simply outsourcing responsibility?
The Soul of AI: Emotional or Practical?
LG and Samsung stole the stage with contrasting AI visions:
- LG’s “affectionate intelligence” built machines to connect emotionally.
- Samsung doubled down on “AI for All,” emphasizing utility over intimacy.
Both camps assume consumers know what they want. Yet, the data says otherwise: Branding tech as explicitly “AI-powered” scares off buyers. The lesson? Sophistication sells; sci-fi doesn't. But here’s the twist: what happens when your fridge “understands” you better than your spouse? Let’s discuss trust in tech before we automate intimacy.
» Explore: Top Emotional Intelligence Speakers
The Metaverse: Dead or Just Practical?
“Let’s not romanticize. The metaverse's future depends on utility, not utopia. If your business isn’t asking, “What tangible problem does this solve?” then you’re still dreaming in 2022.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking the metaverse was dead by 2025. Surprise: it was thriving, but not where most expected. At CES, healthcare applications turned patient data into immersive cityscapes, and Claire’s pivoted from malls to Roblox with stunning success (read more about Shimmerville). The takeaway? The metaverse was never about escapism; it was about solving real problems with virtual tools.
Gen Z: Disruption’s Biggest Driver
Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z is rewriting every rulebook. Ignore them at your peril. Gen Z doesn’t want your product; they want you to reflect their world. They also:
- Demand personalization: 86% see tech as core to their identity.
- Insist on sustainability: Products that don’t reflect values won’t make it past the checkout.
- Navigate immersion effortlessly: They live between physical and digital worlds, and expect brands to do the same.
READ MORE: The Generation Game: Five Generations In One Workforce
Spatial Computing: Screens Are Dead. Now What?
Forget about phones. Sony’s XYN platform revealed a near future where screens vanish and digital interactions become natural extensions of reality. This isn’t just AR/VR; this is the interface-less future. The question isn’t if this will reshape industries but how fast your competitors will beat you to the punch.
Strategic Imperatives for Leaders
- Shift from Automation to Action: Stop designing systems that merely “respond.” Build systems that take the first step.
- Reinvent Customer Experience: Predictive, personalized, and privacy-first: three pillars you can’t skip.
- Balance Transparency with Mystery: Consumers don’t want to see how the sausage is made. They just want trust.
- Prepare for the Death of Screens: If your digital strategy stops at mobile, you’re already irrelevant.
The Agentic Era: A Balancing Act
The machines aren’t coming; they’re already here. What CES 2025 reminded us is that technology isn’t just a tool; it’s a partner, an adversary, and sometimes, an existential question. Success won’t come from adopting the latest innovation. It will come from using technology to amplify what makes us uniquely human.
The Agentic Era is a mirror, not a map. How will you reflect?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is “agentic AI”?
Agentic AI describes systems that act autonomously toward a goal, going beyond a response to a single prompt. An agentic system can monitor a situation, make a decision and take the next action itself without waiting for an instruction. At CES 2025, this shift showed up in retail demos where AI monitored customer behaviour and acted on it directly, without a person in the loop.
Why did CES 2025 matter for business leaders as well as technologists?
CES 2025 mattered for business leaders because it set out a broader shift in how organisations design customer experience, product strategy and trust. CES has traditionally been read as a showcase for consumer gadgets. The themes that came out of the 2025 edition, proactive AI, spatial computing and a demanding Gen Z audience, are strategy questions for any leadership team, well beyond R&D.
How should organisations respond to the agentic shift?
Organisations should respond to the agentic shift by moving from systems that merely respond to systems that act, while keeping transparency and privacy central to how that autonomy is designed. That was the clearest signal from CES 2025. Leaders don’t need to adopt every innovation shown at CES; the practical starting point is auditing where an agentic system could remove friction for customers, and where human judgement still needs to stay firmly in the loop.
Interested in booking Toby Daniels, Simon Torrance or Cathy Hackl to unpack agentic AI for your organisation? Send us a message and we’ll scope the right format and a quote for your audience. Remember, it’s always a good time to get a PepTalk!
