[CES 2024] CES 2024 will be AI all the way down

CES 2024 will highlight AI-powered tech, including Samsung's updated smart fridge, LG's robot butler and advanced semiconductor technology.

SK will showcase an AI-powered fortuneteller that processes on SK hynix' latest HBM3E chip. [SK GROUP]

From two-legged robotic butlers to recipe-designing fridges, CES 2024 will showcase the AI-powered technology that will change our daily lives in the coming years.

The trade show, themed as “All Together. All On,” will kick off its four-day run in Las Vegas on Jan. 9.

The show is expected to attract 4,300 exhibitors from 150 countries, 800 of which are from Korea, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which hosts the annual event.

“Artificial intelligence is the hottest topic in the tech industry right now, and you will see this pervasive throughout the show,” said John Kelley, vice president of the CTA.

At least 30 of the show's sessions will center around AI.

Keynote speeches also reflect the trend. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will talk about “the critical roles that silicon and software play in making AI more accessible” while Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon will touch on “how we will interact with our devices in the AI age.”

Household names such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Sony as well as Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon will participate.

Samsung Electronics brings AI experience to kitchen with its latest recipe-designing fridge 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

AI invades the home

More than a year has passed since OpenAI's ChatGPT sent a wave of AI hype around the globe. Companies are now scrambling to respond, searching for aspects of the fad that could be apply to daily life.

Korean firms are attending in full force.

Samsung Electronics is unveiling its 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub+, which can make a list the ingredients it has in stock — including in drawers and on shelves — using an AI-powered camera. While the Family Hub and AI camera have appeared on previous models, both have been upgraded with a number of new features.

A new “Image to Recipe” tool, for example, can recommend recipes based on the ingredients you have, conscious of dietary restrictions. The camera can only identify up to 33 food items as of now, but it was trained on more than 1 million photos.

The recommended recipes are displayed on a 32-inch digital screen on the fridge's right door. They can also be seen on the company's induction cook stove, also topped with a seven-inch LCD screen.

The fridge also keeps record of when and which ingredient has been put to stock and alerts a user if its expiration date nears.

Samsung Electronics CEO and Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee will also take the stage at a news conference titled “AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI.”

LG Electronics will unveil a two-legged robot butler that can navigate a house and detect objects utilizing self-driving and multimodal technology. Multimodal devices can comprehend not only text-based data, but also images and videos.

LG Electronics will demonstrate two-legged robot that monitors various conditions of the house and interact with the owner. [LG ELECTRONICS]

LG's bot can monitor various aspects of a home including its temperature, humidity and air quality using a camera and sensors. If a house is vacant, the robot can move from one room to another to detect if a window has been left open or a light is on and push a notification to the owner's phone.

It can even emotionally connect with its owner. It can detect a human's feelings by analyzing their voice and facial expressions and select music that match their mood, and can even make facial expressions of its own.

LG Electronics CEO William Cho will also speak at a media event this year. Cho will discuss ways the company is leveraging AI to advance people's lives.

SK Group is setting up an AI-dedicated booth, dubbed ICT Family Demo Room, where it will showcase a total of 10 AI-related services and technologies from SK Telecom (SKT) and SK hynix.

SKT's AI-powered traffic and mobility monitoring system called Litmus+, which aims to solve urban traffic problems, will be on display.

The chip war

SK hynix will showcase various memory chips that can power AI. [SK HYNIX]

The AI boom has ushered in a new era for chipmakers, whose microprocessors enable the complex computations necessary to power AI.

For Korea, a strong player in memory chips, CES 2024 will act as an opportunity to tout the latest memory chip technology.

SK hynix, a leader in HBM (high bandwidth memory) chips — essential to processing the large amounts of data AI requires — will introduce its latest HBM3E chips, which it developed in August 2023 and is in the process of verifying with Nvidia.

The chipmaker also will display CXL (compute express link), an interface that is designed to enhance efficiency of various processor components such as accelerators and dynamic random access memory (DRAM).

"SK hynix will emphasize its future vision represented as 'memory centric,'” the chipmaker said.

SK's booth at CES 2024, which is conceptualized as a “Wonderland” amusement park, will include an AI-powered fortuneteller that runs on SK hynix' HBM3E chips.

The booth, a collaboration among seven different SK affiliates, will allow visitors to experience the group's latest technology.

SKT will showcase an urban air mobility device, or UAM, dubbed Magic Carpet which it aims to commercialize by 2025. SKTs's AI chip subsidiary, Sapeon, will display its latest NPU (neural processing unit), the X330, as well.

Samsung Electronics' device solutions (DS) division in charge of chip business will set up a separate booth at the CES 2024. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics' DS (device solutions) division in charge of chip business is also setting up a separate booth to exhibit their most advanced chip technology, a lot of which is connected to AI, ranging from HBM3E to GDDR7 DRAM.

Global chipmakers are also participating. Nvidia is scheduled to run at least 10 sessions dedicated to AI and how it will impact various industries like entertainment and media. It is expected to unveil some of the newest GPUs as well.

On-device AI, which enables smartphones or PCs to perform AI-related tasks without an internet connection, is expected to emerge this year, as ubiquitous and cost-efficient AI is increasingly in demand.

Intel recently showed off its Core Ultra line of processors, which will power many of the most popular consumer PCs of 2024, including Samsung's Galaxy Book 4 — which the company has been touting as an AI powerhouse.

Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform, which supports on-device AI, has already won a CES 2024 Innovation Award.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]