AI & CES 2024: Walmart, EMD Electronics, Cappella

Overview At CES 2024, AI in its myriad forms ruled the show floor, sometimes turning up where it seemed unlikely. Three exhibitors from very different sectors displayed the power of AI, underscoring its utility in solving problems, enhancing performance and improving life at home. Take a closer look at the world’s biggest company, one of the world’s oldest, and a newcomer. Walmart, EMD Electronics and Cappella show how artificial intelligence simplifies and enriches our everyday experiences.

From baby monitors to semiconductors and retail, AI stood out at CES 2024 as both a technological marvel and an efficiency godsend. To illustrate how this versatile technology is sweeping the consumer landscape, consider how it’s being applied by companies outside of the software and internet sectors.

But first, some context about the technology may help in framing the technical complexities these businesses have mastered. AI is more than a tool for generating stories and pictures in the style of, respectively, Hemingway or Picasso. Its essential components include machine learning, computer vision, cognitive computing and natural language processing. The technology – which emerged in the 1950s – boosts computing performance, as the SAS Institute explains, through “progressive learning algorithms to let the data do the programming…Just as an algorithm can teach itself to play chess, it can teach itself what product to recommend next online.”

All of that is the province of data scientists, software engineers and computer scientists, among others in science and technology professions. Their achievements are increasingly rolling out to technology consumers worldwide. Here are three examples.

Cappella

Why is your baby crying? The Cappella app can tell you. It was a hit at CES 2024 and drew headlines for the many ways it helps parents understand what their baby wants or needs. While it’s powered by AI and machine learning that enable scores of advanced processes under the hood, all moms and dads care about is that it works. Available in the iOS and Google Play app stores, Cappella lets caregivers watch and talk to their infant, play pre-recorded music and track sleep. It captures and relays information about feedings and diaper status.

Developed by engineers who care from MIT, Berkeley and Stanford, Cappella is easy to use with simple interfaces. The app is the newest technology this startup is innovating to help make people happier and healthier.

EMD Electronics

This company, founded in 1668, is still in the same family’s hands, and is still learning new tricks. EMD Electronics, a Merck KGaA business, started in pharmaceuticals and has grown to provide electronic materials, equipment and services for applications that range from healthcare devices to semiconductors, manufacturing systems and much more. As CEO Kai Beckmann said at CES 2024, virtually every electronic device uses at least one of the company’s products. He added that EMD Electronics enables, for example, the newest mobile phones and processing units for AI applications that include ChatGPT.

EMD Electronics also uses AI machine learning to corral big data for streamlining the advanced analytics that optimize product design. At CES 2024, the company demonstrated how it’s innovating to create the next-generation chips that power AI. As Beckmann said in an announcement about CES 2024, the company is “pushing the boundaries of science and technology to make future trends possible.” To do so, EMD Electronics is furthering the development and adoption of artificial intelligence.

Walmart

The world’s largest company by revenue was hard to miss at CES 2024. With its simulated two-story warehouse outside the show’s front doors, and a powerful presentation on the keynote stage, Walmart was as much a heavyweight at the show as it is to the 90% of Americans who shop there. The casual observer would probably be surprised by the complexities underpinning Walmart’s HVAC-equipped, 10,500-square-foot building at CES, packed with interactive displays, plus a 4D “ride” across its supply chain.

While shoppers see shelves stocked with everything from home goods to wellness products to automotive supplies and electronics, the Walmart Global Tech team is transforming retail. The company’s AI and machine learning systems manage supply with laser-like precision. Walmart’s AI-powered inventory system assures that shoppers get what they want when they want it. The company’s tech also drives efficiencies - and economies - that allow it to keep costs low, associates rewarded and customers shopping frictionlessly. As CEO Doug McMillon told keynote audiences, Walmart is proud to bring AI (the generative version) to associates and customers for “a helpful and intuitive search and browsing experience.”

For more information about tech that made waves at CES 2024, check out the CES 2024 Trends Report. Get 80-plus pages of insights on megatrends, as well as exhibitor highlights from 18 sectors, among them energy, gaming, healthcare, robotics, smart home and TV/video. Remember to save the date for CES2025, January 7-10, in Las Vegas.

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