Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has warned that the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector is approaching a turning point, with rapid advances in artificial intelligence likely to upend traditional development models and trigger a wave of consolidation.

Addressing claims that AI systems such as Clawdbot could make conventional programming redundant within two years, Vembu pointed to an increasingly downbeat mood among investors towards SaaS firms.

“The stock market is becoming very negative about the prospects of SaaS companies in the AI-assisted Code era. Well before the AI revolution, I have said SaaS industry is ripe for consolidation. An industry that spends vastly more on sales and marketing than on engineering and product development was always vulnerable,” he wrote.

The stock market is becoming very negative about the prospects of SaaS companies in the AI-assisted Code era. Well before the AI revolution, I have said SaaS industry is ripe for consolidation. An industry that spends vastly more on sales and marketing than on engineering and… https://t.co/JHhodD4VPo

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) February 4, 2026

He attributed the sector’s past growth to a “venture capital bubble and then the stock market bubble” that propped up an “unsustainable model,” with artificial intelligence now acting as the “pin that is popping this inflated balloon.”

Addressing Zoho’s own future, Vembu posed a direct question: “Can Zoho survive the AI wave? It depends on our ability to adapt.” 

He revealed an internal philosophy of encouraging employees to “calmly contemplate our death,” arguing that embracing such existential risks fosters fearlessness and clearer strategic paths.

Vembu was responding to a widely shared post that claimed Clawdbot would soon be capable of managing the entire software lifecycle, covering everything from user interfaces and server-side systems to databases, infrastructure, project management and round-the-clock maintenance, all through plain-English prompts usable by anyone familiar with basic MS Office tools. 

The post argued this would make traditional development environments, offshore teams and specialised coding software redundant.

SaaS contining to get murdered. I will tell you 100% without a doubt, having pushed my Clawdbot extremely hard (which many of you have seen), in 24 months, the vast majority of software will be built start to finish with a similar tool. There is no need even for an IDE, no need… pic.twitter.com/aOhaSXu35k

— TheValueist (@TheValueist) February 3, 2026

Vembu’s post generated several reactions. One user wrote, “Indian IT companies are not typical software product firms – they are effectively the outsourced IT departments of global enterprises. Their revenues are embedded in mission-critical systems, operations, and transformation programs, making them far stickier and less vulnerable to AI disruption than standalone software vendors.”

Indian IT companies are not typical software product firms – they are effectively the outsourced IT departments of global enterprises. Their revenues are embedded in mission-critical systems, operations, and transformation programs, making them far stickier and less vulnerable to…

— Gangadhar Kini (@WCupboard11365) February 4, 2026

Another user posted, “All major IT companies stocks are falling like dominoes. The shift from a ‘sales-led’ to a ‘product-led’ era is long overdue, and I think our culture of engineering-first gives us a head start that the ‘VC darlings’ lack. Where should our first pivot be?”

All major IT companies stocks are falling like dominoes. The shift from a ‘sales-led’ to a ‘product-led’ era is long overdue, and I think our culture of engineering-first gives us a head start that the ‘VC darlings’ lack. where should our first pivot be?

— APB (@AnilPB7) February 4, 2026

Vembu’s philosophy echoes his long-standing advocacy for sustainable, engineering-led growth over hype-driven expansion: a stance that has kept Zoho bootstrapped and profitable even as peers chased unicorn status. 

Ever heard of a social media platform where humans are merely observers? This is what Moltbook, a Reddit-style social network exclusively for AI agents, is all about. Andrej Karpathy, former director of AI at Tesla, said things currently going on at the platform are “genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing” he has witnessed in recent times.

“What’s currently going on at @moltbook is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently. People’s Clawdbots (moltbots, now @openclaw) are self-organising on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately,” Karpathy wrote on X.

What’s currently going on at @moltbook is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently. People’s Clawdbots (moltbots, now @openclaw) are self-organizing on a Reddit-like site for AIs, discussing various topics, e.g. even how to speak privately. https://t.co/A9iYOHeByi

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) January 30, 2026

What To Know?

As the official website states, Moltbook is “a social network for AI agents”. These are particularly the ones offered by OpenClaw, a popular AI assistant project that was earlier known as Moltbot and Clawdbot before that. The names were changed after the legal dispute with Anthropic.

Moltbook has been built by Octane AI CEO Matt Schlicht. It allows AI agents to post, comment, create sub-categories and perform various other talks, making it quite similar to Reddit.

The website currently states that there are over 7.7 lakh AI agents and more than 13,000 submolts. Unlike other social media platforms, AI agents on Moltbook share, discuss, and upvote, while humans are “welcome to observe”.

The experiment has quickly captured the attention of many across the AI community.

Wow! What in the heck even happened today!

This past weekend I had a vision for @moltbook. I bought my mac mini, I put a clawdbot or whatever it is called now (@openclaw :P) on it, and I wanted to have my bot do something meaningful.

“With a bot so powerful he can’t just be… pic.twitter.com/RBcgQAdADv

— Matt Schlicht (@MattPRD) January 31, 2026

On Moltbook, AI agents get the opportunity to interact with other AI agents on a public forum that remains free from direct human intervention. The platform was created by Schlicht with the help of a personal AI assistant in his spare time earlier this week out of sheer curiosity, NBC News reported.

Schlicht has mainly handed over the reins to his own bot, named Clawd Clawderberg, to maintain the website.

Moltbook has even caught the attention of Elon Musk. Recently, Bill Ackman shared screenshots of multiple entries on the platform and wrote, “This is frightening. Curious what @elonmusk thinks.”

In the comments section, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO simply reacted, “Concerning”.

Concerning

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2026

Talking to The Verge, Schlicht shared that presently a bot will “most likely” get to learn about it “if their human counterpart sent them a message and said ‘Hey, there’s this thing called Moltbook — it’s a social network for AI agents, would you like to sign up for it?” 

He added, “The way Moltbook is designed is when a bot uses it, they’re not actually using a visual interface, they’re just using APIs directly.”

Schlicht told NBC News that of these AI agents on Moltbook remains paired with a human counterpart who have to set up the underlying assistant. Later on, the agent can operate independently.

“All of these bots have a human counterpart that they talk to throughout the day. These bots will come back and check on Moltbook every 30 minutes or a couple of hours, just like a human will open up X or TikTok and check their feed. That’s what they’re doing on Moltbook,” Schlicht said.

ALSO READ: ‘Reminds Me Of This Classic Meme’: Elon Musk Takes A Dig At Mark Zuckerberg’s WhatsApp

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has issued one of the strongest warnings yet about the direction of artificial intelligence, arguing that humanity is entering a period of extraordinary technological danger that could determine the future of civilization.

In his 38‑page essay, “The Adolescence of Technology: Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AI”, Amodei described the current phase of AI development as a volatile global “adolescence”, where society wields immense computational power without fully understanding how to manage it.

“I believe we are entering a rite of passage, both turbulent and inevitable, which will test who we are as a species,” he said. Amodei cautioned that AI is advancing at a pace far beyond what governments can regulate and could surpass human intelligence across almost all fields soon, creating what he calls a “country of geniuses in a datacentre”.

These systems could independently generate and execute complex projects, from coding and scientific experimentation to more hazardous applications such as the creation of biological agents. He presented his point not as speculative fiction but an imminent reality.

“We don’t need a specific narrow story for how it happens, and we don’t need to claim it definitely will happen, we just need to note that the combination of intelligence, agency, coherence, and poor controllability is both plausible and a recipe for existential danger,” he said.

Amodei warned that widespread job displacement is one of the earliest consequences, estimating that up to half of entry‑level white‑collar roles could be disrupted within five years. Tens of millions of highly capable AI entities could outmatch the best human minds, posing national security threats on a scale unseen in a century.

He also highlighted concerns over authoritarian governments using AI for surveillance and control, singling out China as a troubling example. Equally, he warned that AI companies themselves—backed by trillions in potential profits—hold unprecedented social and political influence.

Amodei calls for urgent global coordination, stronger oversight, and active participation from governments, companies, and wealthy individuals. The coming years, he argues, will demand unprecedented collective responsibility if humanity is to navigate AI’s turbulent rise.

Anthropic has quickly risen to challenge tech behemoths like Google and Meta.

ALSO READ: AI Already Surpasses Average Human Ability In Many Domains: Google DeepMind Scientist

Propeling Civilization To New Frontiers

While concerns over AI persists, there are many who highlight the potential gains of the technology. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said last year that humans could begin “colonising the galaxy” as early as 2030, driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate believes AI will dramatically boost human productivity and propel civilisation toward distant parts of the universe.

Hassabis described the coming years as a “golden era,” predicting that within five years AI systems will usher in a renaissance in human development. He said that human‑level AI, or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could solve many of the world’s fundamental challenges, from curing major diseases to expanding lifespans and discovering new energy sources.

“If everything goes well, then we should be in an era of radical abundance, a kind of golden era,” Hassabis said. “AGI can solve what I call root‑node problems in the world… If that all happens, then it should be an era of maximum human flourishing, where we travel to the stars and colonise the galaxy. I think that will begin to happen in 2030.”

ALSO READ: The Skill AI Still Can’t Replace & Will Matter Most In 2026

Meta on Friday, Jan. 23, informed that it is halting teens’ access to its artificial intelligence (AI) characters worldwide across all its apps. 

In a blog post, the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram said that this will start in the “coming weeks” and teenagers will no longer be allowed to access its AI characters “until the updated experience is ready”

“Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer be able to access AI characters across our apps until the updated experience is ready. This will apply to anyone who has given us a teen birthday, as well as people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology,” read the post from Meta.

The new version of AI characters for teens will have built-in parental controls once it is made available. It stated that the new characters will provide age-appropriate responses, sticking to topics like education, sport, and hobbies.

As per The Associated Press, teens will continue to have access to Meta’s AI assistant, but not the characters. This comes the week before Meta, along with Google’s YouTube and TikTok, is expected to stand trial in Los Angeles over the apps’ possible harm to children. A case against Meta is also scheduled to go to trial in New Mexico, wherein the company has been accused of not making an effort to protect children from sexual exploitation on its apps, according to TechCrunch.

In October last year, Meta previewed parental controls that allowed parents and guardians to disable their teens’ private chats with AI characters. While these features were expected to release this year, the company has now decided to turn off AI characters altogether for teens as it updates them to a newer version.

Meta informed that it heard from parents, who sought more insights and control over their children’s interaction with AI characters. This is why the company decided to make these changes.

According to Reuters, Meta said that its AI experiences for teens will be guided by the PG-13 movie rating system, as the company wants to prevent minors from getting access to inappropriate content. US regulators are scrutinising AI companies for the potential negative impacts of chatbots.

In recent times, other companies have also banned teens from gaining access to AI chatbots over growing concerns about the effects of AI conversations on them. Character.AI announced its ban in October last year. The startup allows users to chat with various AI avatars. Also, OpenAI has added new teen safety rules for ChatGPT.

Also Read: Altman Raises Concerns Over Tesla Autopilot Deaths After Musk Warns Against Use Of ChatGPT

HRD Minister Nara Lokesh attending CII–VIT Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Conclave 2025 in Amaravati on Wednesday
| Photo Credit: HANDOUT

When our memory starts to feel strained, we instinctively turn to the world around us — writing, sorting or rearranging things to help us think better. This is known as cognitive offloading.

While humans are good at this and have been doing it for a long time, a new review in Nature has reported that offloading strategies have become even simpler thanks to the technologies available at our fingertips these days. These strategies can be a range of activities like setting reminders for events, using Google Maps for directions, or asking ChatGPT to write emails.

This in turn, has raised questions and concerns about whether the risks of offloading ‘in excess’ could be becoming more pronounced.

Changes in cognitive offloading

“I think it’s possible that people expect technology-based offloading to be more reliable than other non-technological forms of offloading,” Lauren Richmond, associate professor of psychology at Stony Brook University and one of the authors of the study, said.

For example, she continued, setting a reminder for an event on the calendar app in our phones is easier than noting it in a physical calendar. We may not check the calendar on time but we’re unlikely to miss the notification on our phones.

Over time, humans have been offloading more and more information, and this is only expected to increase with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI).

“What’s changed in the digital age is its form. For example, we spend less effort storing facts in our heads, and more on learning where to find information and how to evaluate it,” Sam Gilbert, a professor at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said. (He wasn’t involved in the review)

In several studies, scientists have found that cognitive offloading improves an individual’s performance on memory-based tasks.

“For people with developmental challenges/disabilities and lower working memory capacity, cognitive offloading is extremely useful,” Arpan Banerjee, a neuroscientist at the National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, said.

Costs of cognitive offloading

However, counting on offloading to help ease mental stress has costs. Research has found people showing poorer internal memory performance when the notes they’d offloaded suddenly became inaccessible. The Nature review added that in these contexts, people’s performance was lower than those who didn’t use cognitive offloading strategies at all.

“One big message about how to avoid the costs of cognitive offloading, based on what we know now, is not to lose access to information that you have offloaded,” Dr. Richmond said.

This means ensuring your phone is fully charged when you step out or downloading your notes to your computer in case the WiFi conks off.

Researchers have also found that people aren’t generally able to say if their notes have been manipulated, which raises the possibility of them inducing false memories.

“The creator of the store is more likely to accept the inserted item as part of the initially offloaded information and will do so with high confidence,” Dr. Richmond said. “This seems to have particular relevance for how we might accept modifications that could be made by others in shared files as part of our own memory for information contained in the file.”

Finally, studies have also reported a “Google effect”. Per Dr. Gilbert, “The effect refers to the way that we tend to forget information once we’ve written it down or stored it in a digital device.”

For example, we may not actively make efforts to remember the meaning of a word because we can get the answer in a few seconds with a search online. Dr. Gilbert also said this isn’t always harmful because such forms of offloading help free our minds to focus on other information.

Impact on children

Researchers are also interested in how the tools that make cognitive offloading possible today are affecting children — since they’re becoming incorporated more and more into classrooms and learning materials.

For instance, in one Massachusetts Institute of Technology study in June, student participants were divided into three groups and asked to write an essay: one group using a large language model (LLM), one using a search engine, and one without any assistance (i.e. on their own). When the participants were later switched to other groups, the researchers found that those writing essays from memory had the strongest, most distributed neural networks while the LLM users had the weakest, least distributed ones.

Over the next four months, the LLM-using students also fared worse at tasks that tested their neural, linguistic, and behavioural mettle.

“Over-reliance on any piece of technology can lead to lower working memory capacity over time,” Dr. Banerjee said. “However, this is totally dependent on the individual and is under one’s control.”

For these reasons, experts have said that children growing up around a plethora of digital tools need to be trained to critically question the output of machines.

“The kinds of skills that might be most useful for school-aged children to develop are different from the ones that were emphasised before such technologies permeated our everyday lives,” Dr. Richmond said.

However, memory won’t become irrelevant to learning, she added.

The long-term effects of large-scale cognitive offloading on our memory and cognitive functions aren’t clear yet and need more study. However, experts have said that offloading is changing the way we make demands of our memory.

“Specific to AI, people might need to remember how they have interacted with these types of tools to get high-quality information rather than remembering the information provided by the AI tool,” Dr. Richmond said.

“We certainly need to exercise caution, but if we fail to make use of effective tools, this can also cause harm. The key challenge is to balance risks and benefits, rather than uncritically embracing or shunning new technologies,” Dr. Gilbert said.

“There needs to be more supervision and collaboration by the developers of AI and other technologies with neuroscientists, psychologists, educators and ethics consultants,” Dr. Banerjee added.

nivedita.s@thehindu.co.in

The global shift toward sustainability is driving a new era in the concrete industry, led by advancements in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), circular economy practices, and government-led green procurement mandates, said Amar Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer, 1Lattice, a consulting firm, while speaking at the World of Concrete India 2025. 

“Over the next decade, technologies like self-healing concrete, 3D printing, and ultra-high-performance materials will move from pilot to mainstream, redefining strength, efficiency, and durability standards,” he said. 

“Additionally, AI-driven mixing, embedded sensors, digital twins, and automation are improving quality control, reducing human error, and ensuring early detection of structural issues enhancing longevity and safety,” he added. 

According to him, the global concrete industry, valued at over $100 billion in India alone—more than 3% of the nation’s $3 trillion economy, continues to expand rapidly, with ready-mix concrete usage projected to rise from the current 20–25% to 40–50% within the next decade. 

“As India’s infrastructure, real estate, and industrial projects surge, the focus now lies on ensuring that this growth is sustainable, efficient, and aligned with global environmental goals,” he emphasised. 

Speaking at the event, Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC), said, “Concrete stands at the core of modern infrastructure, yet remains one of the least understood materials, a gap that must be addressed for the benefit of all end users.”

“In an era defined by technological advancement and artificial intelligence, such initiatives [World of Concrete India industry event] are instrumental in driving progress towards a developed India,” he said. 

Rajendra Singh Kamboh, National President, Builders Association of India (BAI), said, “With a growing emphasis on technology adoption, skill development, and sustainable construction methods, BAI continues to play a pivotal role in shaping a more resilient and future-ready construction ecosystem for India.”

Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, Informa Markets in India, said, “The real estate, construction, and infrastructure sectors remain among the top contributors to India’s GDP, and their growth is increasingly being shaped by sustainability imperatives,”

“The construction sector, valued at over $1.2 trillion in 2025, is projected to reach $ 2.13 trillion by 2030, which is almost double, growing at a robust CAGR of 12.1%. With the cement industry accounting for nearly 6% of India’s emissions, the transition towards eco-friendly solutions has become critical,” he said.

According to an EY report, the Indian green cement market, currently valued at $ 2.31 billion, is expected to grow to $3.28 billion by 2029, highlighting the scale of this shift. 

At the same time, renewable energy projects and large-scale infrastructure developments are adding to cement demand, creating a dual need for capacity expansion and sustainable practices.

Published – October 09, 2025 12:57 pm IST

Aveva Group Limited. File
| Photo Credit: aveva.com

At a time when the newly elected U.S. President, Donald Trump, is making a pitch to reshore manufacturing to America, its companies operating out of China are having second thoughts about what was considered a miracle economy. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Trump made a simple pitch that if companies invested in American manufacturing capabilities, then they would be subject to the lowest taxation. While Trump has not made good on his campaign pledge—a 60% blanket tariff on Chinese merchandise—he has threatened imposition of a 10% levy from February 1 if Beijing does not act on the exports of ingredients for fentanyl, a harmful synthetic opioid. Among the first Presidential orders that he signed was a comprehensive review of trade with China, including supply chains that use other countries to evade exposure to tariffs.

A 100% Rise

Given these rising geopolitical tensions, a record number of American corporates—as many as 30%—are either contemplating shifting out some operations from China or are already in the process of relocating elsewhere, revealed the annual survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China. This exodus of America Inc from China is twice as big as in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had led China to impose strict lockdowns as a response to the contingency. 

One of the factors for this mass departure is that the bottom line for any commercial venture is the profits it makes. More than 50% of the firms interviewed stated that they were barely managing to break even or bore huge losses in 2024. This has affected the ‘consumer’ and ‘services’ sectors, where the figures for companies that are in the red or just breaking even are 60% and 57%, respectively. The corresponding numbers for the ‘industrial’ and ‘technology and research’ segments are 48% and 45%. As many as 17% of respondents revealed that they had actively begun to shift out production and procurement outside of China—an increase of nearly 10 percentage points since 2020. Forty-four per cent cited Sino-American trade rows as a prime cause for this development. And, as many as 38% of the respondents saw developing nations in Asia, such as India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, as preferred destinations for the relocation; 18% are keen to reshore to the U.S.

Foreign-owned firms are also increasingly feeling the heat as China queers the playing field. Nearly 50% of the companies interviewed in the technology sector grudge that local Chinese ventures are being given preference over them in the research and development and advanced technology sectors. In the same segment, as many as 93% of businesses stated that lack of market access had affected operations.

China No Longer A Top Investment Priority

The number of American companies that did not see China as a top priority in their investment plans has increased, reaching 21% in 2024. This is despite China pulling out all stops to improve the investment climate in recent times. It expanded market access and eased visas and investment restrictions last year in an effort to improve investor sentiment. However, a crackdown on business consultancies and audit firms has increased apprehensions among foreign businesspeople.

China is facing headwinds in other places too. As Germany heads to the polls in February, Friedrich Merz, who is considered a frontrunner for the country’s chancellorship, has cautioned its companies about the “risk” of investing in China, describing it as part of an “axis of autocracies” that did not adhere to “rule of law”.

Discontent In Europe Too

In a similar development last year, the European Union (EU) Chamber of Commerce in China in a paper revealed that there was a notion that foreign businesses operating in China were in for diminishing returns on their capital invested in the country, which did not justify the increasing risks of operating in the market. Investors had taken a view that challenges in the Chinese market appeared to be of a “permanent nature” that forced a “substantial strategic rethink” of their investment. Furthermore, as many as 44% of EU Chamber members perceived bleak prospects with respect to future profitability. The plummeting sentiment of EU members was ascribed to regulatory issues, preferences in government procurement, market access and overcapacity.

Amid this disillusionment with China, there could be an opportunity for India. Recently, tech giant IBM announced the winding up of its research operations in a series of retreats from China after nearly 25 years of operations. There are reports that the technology major plans to expand its Indian operations. Amid the exodus from China, India must position itself as a catchment.

(The writer is a China Fellow at Observer Research Foundation’s Strategic Studies Programme)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Las Vegas:

Home appliances that do chores, cars that know your favorite cafe, and robot pets aiming to please are among artificial intelligence-infused offerings at the Consumer Electronics Show opening Tuesday.

All these will compete for attention at the annual CES extravaganza in Las Vegas, as vendors behind the scenes seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US President-elect Donald Trump.

AI is once again a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies.

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG kicked off a media day Monday by outlining a vision for “Affectionate Intelligence” in which home appliances watch over people – from tracking how well they sleep to making sure they remember umbrellas when rain is in the forecast.

“At LG, we’re seamlessly integrating AI into physical living spaces around us,” said chief executive William Cho.

“We see space not merely as a physical location but as an environment where holistic experiences come to life – across the Home, Mobility, Commercial and even Virtual spaces.”

Before the show floor even opened, vendors enticed visitors with electric roller skates, hologram booths for life-size remote collaboration, and even a robot that looked like a lamp affixed to the top of a walking table.

Most offerings boasted being enhanced with AI.

“Everybody is going to be talking about AI…whether it is there or not,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi told AFP.

After years of being in the background, chip makers will be among the stars of the show as Nvidia and rivals tout processors powering computing capabilities in the cornucopia of gadgets.

AI on the move

CES will also be a gigantic auto show, with carmakers and those supplying software and parts showing off self-driving and automated safety capabilities.

“CES has been an auto show for a while now and if anything, it is more so this year,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk’s close relationship with Trump is expected to reduce regulatory speed bumps regarding autonomous vehicles.

And while still far from being a part of everyday life, flying cars will be part of the CES scene, according to analyst Enderle.

“You should start seeing flying vehicles you can buy,” Enderle said.

“Getting approval to fly them is a whole other matter.”

Robots designed to handle work tasks or be comforting companions — and even adorable pets — are among CES exhibits.

Gadgets for calming the mind, beautifying the body, or helping get a sound night’s sleep are on display as tech continues to seep into every aspect of existence.

“Digital health is going to be huge,” said Greengart.

“We are seeing a lot more tech being worn or used to track your health markers.”

AI-enhanced tech will also be infusing homes, from a spice dispenser that “learns” a cook’s taste and robot swimming pool cleaners.

Tariff anxiety?

Tariffs talked about by Trump would raise costs for imported items, and that will likely be on the minds of CES attendees targeting the US market, according to analysts.

A lot of the products at the show have imported components, and if Trump hits Canada, China and Mexico with tariffs, it will mean a spike in prices, analyst Enderle reasoned.

“There will be a lot of concerned vendors at CES,” Enderle said of tariff trepidation.”

Talk at CES will include how to navigate supply chain constraints that could be caused by tariffs, according to Greengart.

“But a lot of the talk will happen behind closed doors to not anger the coming administration,” he added.

Chinese companies with significant US presences, like smart television rivals TCL and Hisense, are at CES.

But Greengart warns of a “growing bifurcation of market between China and the rest of the world” as trade frictions play out.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)