This year, the Consumer Electronics Show welcomed more than 4,000 exhibiting companies and expected up to 130,000 attendees.

Taking part in one of the 250-plus conference sessions was the Culinary Union whose concerns about technology we're going to discuss ahead.

But we begin with an interview I did at CES.

Nick Wolny is the senior editor at CNET, a consumer tech website that sent more than 20 people to cover this year's event where artificial intelligence was just one major theme.

All right, so AI is so prevalent at this year's CES.

In that arena, what has stood out to you?

(Nick Wolny) One of the biggest things we're seeing in terms of AI regulation and AI quality is that we're seeing a lot more practical AI usage.

So rather than it being this scary, almost dystopian thing that's going to take our jobs and take over the world, we're seeing a lot more data processing and a lot more AI usage on the back end that makes it easier for us as consumers to just live simpler, happier lives.

For me, I tested a Magic Mirror the other day, a smart mirror.

What it did was it did a blood flow scan of my face over a 30-second period.

And then it took that information and ran it through an engine.

It ran through AI on the back end and gave me a quick health analysis.

It was surprising.

We were joking.

I was a little miffed because it said I looked five years older than I did.

And I was like, What is this?

But it actually also had some of the other health markers quite accurate.

I'm someone who has slightly above average cholesterol, and this mirror clocked in.

And so it's really impressive the way that these companies are using AI as a way to process data more quickly and give you more immediate results for things like body scans.

-I got to try it myself as well.

I was surprised to see that I only had a 2.5 score on a scale of 6 for mental stress.

-Yeah.

-But it measures-- -It's early in the event.

Maybe that's why.

-The woman who was operating the machine, she previewed it.

She had a high level, I felt.

-I bet, yes.

These booths are a lot, yeah.

-I want to read a quote from Investor's Business Daily and see what you think of it.

Quote, Companies including Intel, Walmart, Best Buy, and Snap are expected to tout AI-enabled products and services, even if it's just marketing spin for some.

And that was about this year's CES and the prevalence of AI.

What do you think of that?

-I think it's pretty accurate.

We see some brands and exhibitors here that are touting their AI benefit.

And it's honestly nothing special.

It's just it is that marketing spin.

It's an excuse for them to introduce mostly the same product with perhaps a little bit of extra integration in AI.

It kind of harkens back to several years ago when all of the different exhibitors were touting their Alexa integration.

"We've added voice control."

It's like, do you really need voice control for this particular product?

And so we're seeing some of that.

So we've got our eyes out on what are the specific components where AI is actually making a transformative difference in quality of the product, the quality of the consumers' experience as well.

-Why are these companies including it if it's just spin?

-Because AI has been dominating media coverage for well over a year.

I would really pin that on ChatGPT.

When that came out at the end of November 2022, that was the first time a lot of people experienced a powerful AI technology for themselves.

So really, that move pushed AI into mainstream.

AI has been around for several years.

But in terms of the lay consumer, like us, experiencing the power of AI, like, "Suggest me a recipe based on these ingredients," all these things, those instant results, it became very buzzy.

It also just became a very reliable hook from a media perspective.

So as these companies are really jockeying for more media coverage, AI, it's a very reliable worm on your fishing hook if you want to get some extra coverage.

-Okay.

So AI inclusivity and sustainability are the trends that the Consumer Technology Association says we should be watching for at this year's CES.

In the sustainability arena, there's a product that stood out to both you and I, and that is the Genesis WaterCube.

Will you tell our viewers what it does.

-Yeah, this WaterCube pulls in air and converts it into drinking water in real time.

And it's those kind of big idea solutions that have incredible green energy applications that are really exciting and that make this event pretty phenomenal.

And so just in terms of that technology, it's really exciting to see these different exhibitors tackling really big challenges: climate change related challenges, sustainability related challenges, all these different things.

This is the place for those exhibitors, for those scientists, for those brands to showcase that latest technology.

And also the great thing about this being back to being in person is that people can try some of these technologies in person.

Our energy editor, Jon Reed, he tried out the WaterCube.

He got to test drinking water.

He got to drink the drinking water made from the air that is around us right now.

-That is wild.

And they're advertising it as it's better water than you're gonna get out of your faucet.

And you can just replace that water.

You don't need to rely on water anymore from anyone else except your own cube.

-Yeah.

And it's so cool that we see these technologies that are solving problems that we didn't even think were solvable.

Right?

I never thought-- when thinking about the drinking water crisis, I never thought to myself, oh, use the air that's around us as the solution.

But these people figured it out.

So that's something that's, it's nice to be surprised.

It's nice to be taken off guard at this event.

-I was able to talk to one of their cofounders, and they said that each unit would cost about like $20,000.

And they would recommend for someone living in Las Vegas where it's so dry, they might need two of them.

So it's not quite attainable at this moment.

Not for everyone, certainly.

-Right.

And I also think that these premium prices come along for some of these products for one of two reasons: One, it's the only product in the market.

And so as other water cubes get made, that would potentially bring the price down.

And then I think the other big component is we saw this in some of CNET's social media comments, is that, Wait, this is a Consumer Electronics Show.

Like, why are the prices so high on some of these things?

And it's that while the product might be for consumers, it might not be for a consumer to buy, per se.

You could also see that WaterCube or other products being bought by a gym or being bought by other brands or things like that.

For the Magic Mirror, they don't want that in your bathroom, per se.

They want to be in every Walgreens in America.

And they want people to just be able to experience it.

So it's the consumer that's going to experience it, but it's not always the consumer that's going to purchase that particular product.

-And that cofounder also said that-- I asked who is buying this, because they're taking preorders.

He said a lot of developers are including that in home development so you can buy a home with one of these cubes.

-Yeah.

-Just really neat stuff.

There are a lot of tremendous products here: flying cars, robotics, you name it.

But among everything you've seen, what's likely going to end up in the hands of the average American consumer, the one that's reaching out to you on social media?

-There's definitely a category of products here that are meant to be home products, energy products, handhelds, things like that.

Yesterday, I got to demo a new iPhone case that has a physical keyboard on the bottom of it.

So if you ever used a Blackberry or something like that, this goes onto your iPhone and basically adds a keyboard to your iPhone.

It's been getting a lot of buzz on social media.

It's called Clicks.

I got to do a preview of it while we were here.

And that's a product with a $139 price point, so something that people could realistically see themselves picking up.

They might see themselves picking up now.

Even though CES is a trade show, we've definitely seen in recent years that direct-to-consumer brands will come along, and they'll showcase a product that just gets a lot of buzz.

We were talking earlier about ColdSnap, which was another product.

"The Keurig of ice cream," is the best way to describe it.

And so the first night on the media preview, the "CES Unveiled," you just saw all these people walking around with cups of ice cream.

It's like, what's going on?

They're like, Oh, I got it autodispensed to me from this ColdSnap booth.

So seeing stuff like that is really exciting as well.

Even though it's a trade show, not everything is completely focused on, you know, business partnerships only.

Some products, they're like, Hey, we've got the order form right here.

You want to buy it now?

They're trying to definitely jockey for some media coverage and be able to pick up on some sales and stuff as a result of media.

-Free ice cream will get any media member, right?

-That's my love language.

That's why it's in my brain.

-Last thing: As we walked here, we're in the North Hall now, but we saw an exhibit of the 100 years of CTA, the Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES.

What stands out to you about the 100 years?

Why is that significant?

-It's amazing that they've been doing this for 100 years, the association has been around for 100 years.

It also just really shows that people will always care about the future, and they'll always be excited about the future.

You know, this year I think there's 140,000 people here that came here in person to Las Vegas to get inspired about the future.

And technology is something that really does that for us.

Yes, it has its pros and cons.

Technology can be used for good or for bad, but it will always be inspiring.

It's always exciting to see what sort of new things are coming down the pipe that in a few years might just become our new day-to-day life.

And this is the place; this is definitely the epicenter of where we get to see what kinds of technologies those will be.

I'm not surprised, 100 years and still going strong.

-Nick Wolny, Tech Expert and Senior Editor at CNET, thank you for joining us.

-Thanks for having me.