Key Takeaways:
- The "Worst in Show" awards at CES highlighted several products with invasive, wasteful, or fragile features, including AI-powered appliances and gadgets.
- Samsung’s "Bespoke AI Family Hub" refrigerator won the overall "Worst in Show" award due to its unnecessary AI features and reliability concerns.
- Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system was criticized for its new features that include facial recognition and mobile surveillance towers.
- Other products that received "Worst in Show" awards include an AI companion called Ami, a musical lollipop, and a treadmill powered by an AI chatbot fitness coach.
Introduction to the "Worst in Show" Awards
The "Worst in Show" awards at this year’s CES gadget show highlighted several products that were criticized for their invasive, wasteful, or fragile features. The annual contest, which is judged by a group of consumer and privacy advocates, aims to shed light on products that prioritize profits over people’s privacy and well-being. As Gay Gordon-Byrne of the Digital Right to Repair Coalition noted, "Everything is an order of magnitude more difficult" when it comes to products that are designed to simplify decisions around the home but end up making life more complicated.
The "Worst in Show" Winner: Samsung’s AI-Powered Refrigerator
Samsung’s "Bespoke AI Family Hub" refrigerator won the overall "Worst in Show" award due to its unnecessary AI features and reliability concerns. The refrigerator, which can track when food items are running low and advertise replacements, was criticized for its complicated interface and potential privacy risks. As Gordon-Byrne said, "We’re not just talking about a refrigerator that keeps your food cold, we’re talking about a device that’s tracking your every move and advertising products to you." Samsung responded to the criticism, stating that "a trade show floor is naturally very different from a consumer’s home environment" and that "security and privacy are foundational" to the AI experiences in the fridge.
Judging the "Worst in Show" Awards
The judges of the "Worst in Show" awards have no affiliation with CES or the trade group that runs the show. They make their choices based on how uniquely bad a product is, what impact it could have if widely adopted, and if it was significantly worse than previous versions of similar technology. As Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, noted, "We definitely intend some shame… We do hope that manufacturers see this as a poke, as an impetus to do better next time." The judges represent groups including Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and right-to-repair advocates iFixit.
Amazon’s Ring Doorbell Camera System
Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system was criticized for its new features that include facial recognition and mobile surveillance towers. The system, which won the "Worst in Show" award for privacy, was described as "doubling down on privacy invasion and supporting the misconception that more surveillance always makes us safer" by Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. As Cohn noted, "That includes facial recognition… It includes mobile surveillance towers that can be deployed at parking lots and other places, and it includes an app store that’s going to let people develop even sketchier apps for the doorbell than the ones that Amazon already provides."
Other "Worst in Show" Winners
Other products that received "Worst in Show" awards include an AI companion called Ami, which was criticized for its "always-on" marketing and potential privacy risks. The device, which tracks eye movements and other emotional signals, was described as "an AI video surveillance device on a desk" that could be anyone’s "soulmate." A musical lollipop, which plays music while you eat it, was also criticized for its environmental waste and lack of reusability. As Nathan Proctor, director of the Public Interest Research Group’s right-to-repair campaign, noted, "We need to stop making so many disposable electronics, which are full of toxic chemicals, require critical minerals to produce and can burn down waste facilities."
Security Concerns and Environmental Impact
A treadmill powered by an AI chatbot fitness coach was criticized for its security concerns, including the collection of biometric data and behavioral inferences. The device’s privacy policy, which stated that "We cannot guarantee the security of your personal information," raised concerns among security advocates. German tech company Bosch received two "Worst in Show" awards, one for adding voice assistants and subscriptions to coffee-making with a "Personal AI Barista" machine and another for a purported anti-theft feature on an e-bike app. As Cory Doctorow, author of the book "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," noted, "Even if Bosch doesn’t seek to prosecute its own customers for routine repairs, it could always change its deal with them later."
https://www.10tv.com/article/syndication/associatedpress/worst-in-show-ces-products-include-ai-refrigerators-ai-companions-and-ai-doorbells/616-b8ef416e-8e99-4a1f-a793-27e49a24852a
