CES 2026: When AI steps out of the screen and into the real world

Last week, some of the ICS.AI team spent a few great days in Las Vegas at CES 2026 - one of the world’s biggest stages for technology and innovation. It was energising to be there in person, walking the show floors, talking to exhibitors and peers, and seeing firsthand how the future of AI is emerging in real time.

AI stepping beyond screens

CES this year had a clear message: AI is moving beyond screens and into the physical world.

Smart glasses. Wearables that think. Robots designed for workplaces and public-facing environments. Much of what we’ve watched in demo videos over the past couple of years is now being packaged, priced, and presented as “ready for everyday use” – a shift from conceptual demonstrations to tangible, working technology.

That shift matters - because when AI becomes something we wear or work alongside, it changes how organisations think about productivity, service delivery, and trust.

Seeing this firsthand is what made CES so powerful. It really was clear just how quickly these technologies are moving from idea to reality. Many concepts that have previously lived in roadmaps or hype cycles are now visible, working, and evolving in real time – leaving a strong sense that this is happening now.

Three themes stood out

Hardware is catching up with the hype

A big takeaway from the show floor was how quickly the underlying hardware has matured. In multiple categories, we saw devices that felt far closer to “usable” than “experimental” — and, importantly, increasingly accessible from a cost and practicality point of view.

Smart glasses are getting genuinely compelling

Smart glasses were one of the most interesting areas of progress. Across vendors, the experience has moved on quickly: more comfortable form factors, clearer displays, stronger audio integration, and a growing sense that these devices are becoming part of the everyday toolkit — not a niche novelty.

As the interface improves, the question shifts from “will people wear these?” to “what workflows could this make easier when AI is hands-free and in the moment?”

Workplace robots are becoming a visible category

We also saw a range of workplace-oriented robotics - from mobile “presence” devices to early humanoid formats. Some of this is still early-days, but the direction is unmistakable: robots are steadily moving from curiosity to category, and organisations will need to be ready to evaluate what’s real, what’s hype, and what’s practical.

Tech is accelerating - readiness needs to accelerate too

If there’s one overarching lesson from CES, it’s that the pace of change is not slowing down.

As AI becomes more physical, the conversation naturally widens beyond features and functions into the questions leaders actually care about:

• Where does this create real value (and where doesn’t it)?

• What does “safe and responsible” look like in day-to-day environments?

• How do organisations adopt new tools without adding noise, risk, or complexity?

These are exactly the questions we went to explore - and we’ll be sharing more observations and lessons as we digest what we saw.

For now: AI hardware is getting serious, it’s happening quickly, and it’s going to reshape what “AI at work” looks like. Watch this space.

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