‘The Most Underwhelming Tech of CES: AI Edition’

Key Takeaways

The annual "Worst in Show" contest at CES awards companies for invasive, wasteful, or fragile products
Samsung’s "Bespoke AI Family Hub" refrigerator won the overall "Worst in Show" award for its unnecessary AI features and reliability concerns
Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system won the "Worst in Show" for privacy due to its new features, including facial recognition and mobile surveillance towers
Other winners of the "Worst in Show" award 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 Contest
The promise of artificial intelligence was a major theme at this year’s CES gadget show, but some companies took it too far. The annual "Worst in Show" contest, which no tech company wants to win, announced its decisions on Thursday. The contest is judged by a group of consumer and privacy advocates who represent groups such as Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and right-to-repair advocates iFixit. As Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, said, "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 choose products that are uniquely bad, have a significant impact if widely adopted, and are worse than previous versions of similar technology.

Samsung’s Bespoke AI Family Hub Refrigerator
Samsung’s "Bespoke AI Family Hub" refrigerator won the overall "Worst in Show" award for its unnecessary AI features and reliability concerns. The refrigerator invites users to speak to it and command it to open or close the door, but a demonstration at the CES show revealed that it didn’t always detect what people were saying if there was too much ambient noise. As Gay Gordon-Byrne of the Digital Right to Repair Coalition said, "Everything is an order of magnitude more difficult" with this fridge, which also tracks when food items are running low and can advertise replacements. Samsung responded by saying 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.

Amazon’s Ring Doorbell Camera System
Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system won the "Worst in Show" for privacy due to its new features, including facial recognition and mobile surveillance towers. The system’s "AI Unusual Event Alert" is supposed to detect unexpected people or happenings, but Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that it "includes facial recognition… and an app store that’s going to let people develop even sketchier apps for the doorbell than the ones that Amazon already provides." Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other Winners of the Worst in Show Award
Other winners of the "Worst in Show" award include an AI companion called Ami, which tracks eye movements and other emotional signals, and a musical lollipop that plays music while you eat it. The lollipop, called Lollipop Star, was criticized for its environmental waste, as the sticks cannot be recharged or reused after the candy is gone. A treadmill powered by an AI chatbot fitness coach also won an award for security concerns, as it collects biometric data and behavioral inferences, and its privacy policy states that "we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information."

Conclusion and Final Thoughts
The "Worst in Show" contest is a reminder that not all technological advancements are necessary or desirable. As Cory Doctorow, author of the book "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," said, "We’re pointing to trends that we see in the industry as a whole." The contest encourages companies to think critically about the products they develop and to prioritize consumer needs and privacy. As the judges said, "We’re hoping that they’ll make changes as a result of it." Only time will tell if companies will take the feedback to heart and create more responsible and user-friendly products.