I’m on my way to Las Vegas for CES. Just like every year for the past seven, I’m starting my January by attending the preeminent global tech event where among a few other things, AI may be discussed. I’ll bring you my observations, thoughts, and usual skepticism. And talk about why CES is not important just to consumer tech but to legal and legal tech as well.
CES In January
January. The holidays are over. It’s back to work. Back to school. When I was a practicing lawyer, it meant starting all over at 0 billable hours and origination credits. It’s winter.
And you think the party’s over
But it’s only just begun
“Whole Wide World” – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
But for some 150,000 of us, it means it’s time for CES, the mammoth nonstop conference, show, parties, and sales pitches stretching from one end of Las Vegas to the other. It’s labeled the “world’s premier technology tradeshow” by the show’s producer, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), North America’s largest tech trade association. I can’t dispute that CES is the largest and certainly the most well-known tech trade show.
The show starts on January 4 with two full media days, followed by four days of educational sessions, keynotes, press conferences, and multiple exhibit halls that will likely feature the wares of over 4,500 exhibitors along with some 140,000 if not more attendees. (See CTA 2025 Audit Statements housed on the CES media website for last year’s numbers.) I will be there for as much of it as I can do for Above the Law and offering my insights and thoughts along the way.
(As an aside, as someone who has co-chaired a premier legal tech show, ABA’s TechShow, I can only imagine what the holidays must be like for CES event planners staring down this show.)
Why Am I Here?
Now for the big question: what’s a lawyer/legal tech journalist doing here? Legal tech is legal tech, it’s not consumer technology, right? Wrong. So many developments in consumer tech ultimately find their way into all sorts of tech used in businesses, including legal.
It’s important to know where tech is going in general since that too impacts legal tech. It’s important to hear what those outside legal tech are doing and thinking. It’s critical to hear how they view things and what excites them. And yes, much of what they display at CES is pie-in-the-sky tech that won’t happen… until it does.
It’s also enlightening to hear what concerns and challenges them as well. Legal tech is not tech unto itself. It’s tech for a particular market but it’s still tech.
In the past, I’ve written about such things as the coming impact of agentic AI, deepfakes, workforce management in the age of AI, the metaverse, how to make legal tech decisions, quantum computing and cybersecurity, among other topics, all relevant to legal every day.
But beyond all this and perhaps most importantly, as I have written before, it’s also about the attitude and vibe. The people at CES are looking for ideas that could, might, or possibility work. And even if they don’t, that’s okay too because they could lead to something that does. Legal, on the other hand, too often looks for ways things won’t work. At CES, change is everything. Legal? Change is anathema.
This Year’s Big Topics
What are some of the big topics this year? Last year, the main area of intersect highlighted by the attendees was of course AI, based again on the CTA Audit Statement. It was followed by IoT, vehicle technology (it’s often said CES is the world’s largest car show, by the way), and robotics.
This year, CTA representatives believe the transformative power of AI and agentic AI along with health and mobility will be big topics for discussion. Robotics will continue to be hot, along with smart glasses, spatial computing, and energy innovations, which will also be front and center. The latter is of particular interest given the potential challenges to the energy infrastructure that AI may bring, a critical topic we have recently discussed.
I’m particularly looking for the challenges to AI and its implementation. I’m looking for how we as a society can manage the disruption AI might bring. Those issues weren’t exactly front and center at the recent AI Summit which I attended and discussed last month. We will see if they are talked about here.
Media Days at CES
CES always offers two days just for media. The media days kick off with various press conferences, the most extravagant being that of Samsung and LG Electronics, along with several other well-known companies (Apple stopped attending the show years ago). The press conferences are used for product announcements and are full-scale productions unto themselves instead of cut-and-dried lists of features and benefits.
But the highlight of media days for me has always been the Tech Trends to Watch presentation on the first day. The report is based on surveys, statistics, and research of CTA and is a good way to see where technology is going and what’s on the horizon. I have written about this session and what it reveals before.
It’s immediately followed by Unveiled Las Vegas, where media representatives are given a first look at what many of the exhibitors and sponsors will be showing and demoing on the main exhibit floor during the week. It’s smaller scale than the main exhibit floors and offers more opportunities to talk to the vendors about what they are doing and seeing.
The Keynotes
The list of keynote speakers reads like a who’s who of consumer electronics and for that matter, industry. This year includes keynote presentations by the CEOs of Siemens, Caterpillar (if you have to ask why a tractor company CEO is giving a keynote at a tech conference, you are a little behind already), AMD, Vivendi, General Catalyst, and Lenovo, among others. There will be presentations by the global managing partner of the consulting firm McKinsey along with those of the CEO and President of CTA itself.
Networking and Education
To say CES is like a multi-ring circus is a bit of an understatement. It includes 10 cavernous exhibit halls — it’s the only show I have ever been to where you have to actually wait in line to view the exhibit spaces of some more well-known vendors. With over 4,500 exhibitors, it’s almost impossible to see everything. The halls are divided up topically, so that does make planning a bit easier.
There are also ample networking possibilities, a plethora of parties, and ample other events. But one of the highlights for me are the numerous educational sessions that take place throughout the week. As set out below, these sessions can be enlightening, scary, informative, and entertaining.
But as in most years, I am sure there will be branches and spin off sessions that highlight new and interesting issues and challenges.
I’m reasonably sure I’m going to hear a lot of AI babble and hype. In many ways, that’s what CES is in large part about: dreaming big, living large, and short on details. But that’s another reason I’m here, to help separate the hype from reality.
One cautionary note: given the number of attendees and multiple exhibit halls, the logistics of attending many of the sessions can be a challenge. Try covering the roughly mile and a half from the Convention Center to the Venetian Center along with thousands of other people all moving in different directions at the same time. I will be making a lot of game-time decisions based on what’s hot, what may pertain to legal, and often what’s logistically possible.
Once Again, Stay Tuned
So, this year, just like the last seven, I’ll be in Vegas bringing you what I learn, see, and hear. I’m sure I will be talking about AI, agentic AI, the practical challenges of AI, and the hype machine. I’ll be drawing the connection between what I hear and learn and its potential impact on legal.
Hang on, the party’s just beginning. It’s going to be a whole wide world at CES.
Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.