CES 2026 is in full swing in Las Vegas, with the show floor open to the public after a packed couple of days occupied by press conferences from the likes of Nvidia, Sony, and AMD and previews from Sunday’s Unveiled event.
As has been the case for the past two years at CES, AI is at the forefront of many companies’ messaging, though the hardware upgrades and oddities that have long defined the annual event still have their place on the show floor and in adjacent announcements. We’ll be collecting the biggest reveals and surprises here, though you can still catch the spur-of-the-moment reactions and thoughts from our team on the ground via our live blog right here.
Let’s dive right in, starting with some of Monday’s biggest players.
Nvidia reveals AI model for autonomous vehicles, showcases Rubin architecture
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered an expectedly lengthy presentation at CES, taking a victory lap for the company’s AI-driven successes, setting the stage for 2026, and yes, hanging out with some robots.
The Rubin computing architecture, which has been developed to meet the increasing computation demands that AI adoption creates, is set to begin replacing Blackwell architecture in the second half of this year. It comes with speed and storage upgrades, but our senior AI editor Russell Brandom goes into the nitty-gritty of what distinguishes Rubin.
And Nvidia continued its push to bring the AI revolution into the physical world, showcasing its Alpamayo family of open source AI models and tools that will be used by autonomous vehicles this year. That approach, as senior reporter Rebecca Bellan notes, mirrors the company’s broader efforts to make its infrastructure the Android for generalist robots.
AMD’s keynote highlights new processors and partnerships
AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su delivered the first keynote of CES, with a presentation that featured partners, including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, AI legend Fei-Fei Li, Luma AI CEO Amit Jain, and more.
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Beyond the partner showcases, senior reporter Rebecca Szkutak detailed AMD’s approach toward expanding the reach of AI through personal computers using its Ryzen AI 400 Series processors.
The standout oddities of CES
Let’s face it, by this point in the show the major announcements have been made, products have been showcased, and it’s time to eye some of the most brow-raising reveals from CES. We started our list of what stood out to us as odd and noteworthy, but we’re open to more suggestions!
Highlights from CES breakout sessions
CES isn’t all hardware showcases and show floor attractions — there are plenty of additional industry panels and speakers drawing eyeballs. We kept tabs on a few notable highlights, ranging from Palmer Luckey pushing retro aesthetics, to why the “learn once, work forever” era may be over, to previews of the new Silicon Valley-based series “The Audacity,” to the expansion of Roku’s $3 streaming service, to All-In host Jason Calacanis putting a $25,000 bounty on an authentic Theranos device.
Ford’s AI assistant debuts
Ford is launching its assistant in the company’s app before a targeted 2027 release in its vehicles, with hosting managed by Google Cloud and the assistant itself built using off-the-shelf LLMs. As we noted in our coverage of the news, however, few details were offered around what drivers should expect from their experience with the assistant.
Caterpillar, Nvidia partner on automated construction equipment
As part of the ever-present push for AI’s impact on the physical world, Caterpillar and Nvidia announced a pilot program, “Cat AI Assistant,” which was demonstrated at CES Wednesday. This system, coming to one of Caterpillar’s excavator vehicles, is happening alongside another project to use Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation resources to help with construction project planning and execution.
Hands-on with Clicks Communicator
One of the buzziest reveals of the show is the debut phone from Clicks Technology, the $499 Communicator, which brings back BlackBerry vibes with its physical keyboard, plus a separate $79 slide-out physical keyboard that can be used with other devices.
Check out our full rundown from the show floor here, but the Communicator makes a good first impression, per Consumer Editor Sarah Perez:
“In our hands-on test, the phone felt good to hold — not too heavy or light, and was easy to grip. Gadway told me the company settled on the device’s final form after dozens of 3D-printed shapes. The winning design for the phone features a contoured back that makes it easy to pick up and hold.
“The device’s screen is also somewhat elevated off the body, and its chin is curved up to create a recess that protects the keys when you place it face down.”
Check out the Skylight Calendar 2
This family planning tool caught our eyes on the show floor, not just for its calendar and planning capabilities, but for its AI capabilities that are able to sync calendars from different sources, create new to-dos based off of messages or photos, appointment reminders, and more. Check out our full impressions here.
Boston Dynamics and Google partner on Atlas robots
Hyundai’s press conference focused on its robotics partnerships with Boston Dynamics, but the companies revealed that they’re working with Google’s AI research lab rather than competitors to train and operate existing Atlas robots, as well as a new iteration of the humanoid robot that was shown onstage. Transportation editor Kirsten Korosec has the full rundown.
Amazon’s AI-centric update with Alexa+ is getting the kind of push you’d expect at CES, with the company launching Alexa.com for Early Access customers looking to use the chatbot via their browsers, along with a similar, revamped bot-focused app. Consumer editor Sarah Perez has the details, along with news on Amazon’s revamp to Fire TV and new Artline TVs, which have their own Alexa+ push.
On the Ring front, consumer reporter Ivan Mehta runs through the many announcements, from fire alerts to an app store for third-party camera integration, and more.
Razer joins the AI deluge with Project AVA and Motoko
In the past, Razer has been all about ridiculous hardware at CES, from three-screen laptops to haptic gaming cushions to a mask that landed the company a federal fine. This year, its two attention-grabbing announcements were for Project Motoko, which aims to function similarly to smart glasses, but without the glasses.
Then there’s Project AVA, which puts the avatar of an AI companion on your desk. We’ll let you watch the concept video for yourself.
Lego Smart Bricks mark the company’s first CES appearance
Lego joined CES for the first time to hold a behind-closed-doors showcase of its Smart Play System, which includes bricks, tiles, and Minifigures that can all interact with each other and play sounds, with both the debut sets having a Star Wars theme. Senior writer Amanda Silberling has all the details here.
Source: techcrunch.com
