By Catherine Thorbecke
WHERE are all the artificial intelligence (AI) consumer gadgets? Even a year ago, it seemed tech companies were working to incorporate the technology into every physical device, from coffee makers to vacuums, making 鈥淎I-powered鈥 hardware seem like it would soon be as ubiquitous as 鈥渂attery-powered鈥 electronics.
Typically, tech conferences offer a glimmer of these futuristic toys. Not all of them end up hitting the market, but it鈥檚 where we can dream a little about new pocket devices or household robots taking on a greater role in our lives.
So it was a little disappointing last week at Asia鈥檚 biggest artificial intelligence conference, Taiwan鈥檚 Computex, to find hardly any mentions of consumer-facing tech. Most keynotes focused on enterprise applications of AI, such as agents or automated manufacturing. Walking around the exhibitors鈥 hall, the only thing that caught my eye were wireless computer mice shaped like cats.
A few things seem to have changed. For starters, there鈥檚 the reality that hardware engineering presents an entirely different set of physical challenges compared to tinkering with AI software. And a global trade war also makes it a risky time to launch a new gadget when it鈥檚 unclear if consumers are interested. Companies also may be starting to pick up on the fact that while Wall Street is awash with global hype on the AI boom, it isn鈥檛 exactly a on Main Street.
If anything, some of the executives speaking at the conference threw cold water on the next generations of these AI-first consumer products. Asustek Computer, Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Samson Hu told that it will take another year or more for AI-powered PCs to go mainstream because the technology isn鈥檛 quite there yet and macroeconomic uncertainty is impacting people鈥檚 spending. There have been few compelling use cases for AI PCs so far, despite the mountain of promotion.
Meanwhile, the graveyard of AI hardware that was supposed to transform our lives is already growing. The wearable device 鈥 launched last year to much hype about how it was going to 鈥 ended up receiving while being a . The startup, run by two former Apple, Inc. employees, stopped selling the Ai Pin earlier this year and was . The Rabbit R1 assistant is another of the false promises of these gadgets.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean the future of AI consumer products isn鈥檛 coming. OpenAI made the major last week that it is working with legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive to launch something that takes AI into the physical realm for consumers. But even the might of OpenAI鈥檚 technology and Ive鈥檚 design prowess make whatever it is a .
There were perhaps some lessons for the future of such devices from the gathering in Taiwan. During his keynote speech, Qualcomm, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon said that AI computers are at the phase where they will require the work of outside developers to make them appeal to consumers. The iPhone, for example, didn鈥檛 take off immediately after it was launched. But it became essential to so many people because of the myriad apps developers built on top of it that we now use to hail taxis, order food, or move around new cities. 鈥淩eally, the developer ecosystem is going to make this shift to AI PCs,鈥 Amon said. He鈥檚 right, and the same is true beyond just AI computers.
For any revolutionary AI hardware device, and especially a smartphone killer, the more that global developers lead the charge to meet peoples鈥 needs and solve small, everyday problems, the more likely they are to succeed. In this economy, maybe that doesn鈥檛 mean repackaging the same old gadgets with shiny new AI labels. It means iterating and perfecting real use cases that incorporate the buzzy technology into devices and make our lives easier. And this will inevitably be a collective effort.
AI is already transforming our world in small ways. I find asking ChatGPT to quickly translate phrases for me while on the go a lifesaver when navigating a new country. But I hardly want to shell out money to carry around a new device simply to access ChatGPT.
The more the tech industry tries to slap AI onto everything and market it as a panacea for all our problems, the more I get a snake-oil salesman ick. The future of AI hardware won鈥檛 come in a magical new gadget, it will be built by tackling these tasks one-by-one and not all at once.
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