CES 2024: AI Is Now Everywhere. Here's What Matters for Your Business

CES 2024 wrapped up this week. And if there was a theme, it was AI integrated into everything: refrigerators, cars, cameras, headphones, devices I've never heard of.

For professional services firms, most of this is irrelevant noise. But there were signal mixed in. Let me help you separate the two.

The Real Announcements That Matter

1. AI Chips Are Getting Better and Cheaper

Multiple vendors announced AI chips specifically designed for on-device inference (running AI models locally, without sending data to the cloud).

Why this matters: it makes local AI processing more feasible. Your firm could run open source models on servers or even laptops with better performance and lower power consumption.

Timeline: 2-3 years before this becomes mainstream for professional services. But watch it.

2. Multimodal AI Is Becoming Standard

Every major vendor is now moving toward multimodal AI (models that work with text, images, video, audio). This isn't new, but it's becoming ubiquitous.

Why this matters: you can build AI applications that understand documents (text + images), meeting recordings (audio + transcription), and complex visual workflows.

Timeline: next 6 months. Expect multimodal capabilities to be standard in the platforms you use.

3. Integration Into Business Tools Is Accelerating

Google showed deeper Gemini integration with Workspace. Microsoft is doing the same with Copilot in Office. Salesforce has Einstein AI.

Why this matters: the tool you use daily (email, documents, CRM) will have AI built in. You don't need to switch platforms; the AI comes to you.

Timeline: it's already happening. By mid-2024, most professional services firms will have AI in their email, documents, and CRM.

The Hype That Doesn't Matter

AI in Cars, Refrigerators, Wearables, etc.

These are impressive demos. They're not relevant to your professional services work. Don't get distracted by them.

"AI Agents That Do Everything"

Every vendor demoed "AI agents" that autonomously handle complex tasks. These don't exist yet in production form. They're research projects, not ready for real use. Ignore the hype.

Holographic Displays Powered by AI

Cool tech. Not relevant to your business. Skip it.

What to Actually Pay Attention To

1. Tool Integration

What AI capabilities are being added to the tools you already use? That's what matters. If your CRM gets AI deal scoring, or your email gets AI-powered templates, that's useful.

Track announcements from vendors you actually use: Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, etc.

2. Multimodal Capabilities

As your AI tools get better at handling images, video, and audio, think about new use cases: document analysis with images, meeting video analysis, transcript analysis.

3. Cost Trends

CES showed AI chips and models getting better and cheaper. This means the cost of running AI will go down. For large-scale implementations, this matters.

What NOT to Do

Don't: Get excited about "AI everywhere" and think you need to rethink your strategy. Your AI strategy should focus on your actual business problems, not on what's technically possible.

Don't: Chase new capabilities announced at CES. Most will take 12-24 months to become available and proven. Stick with what you have.

Don't: Assume you need new hardware or platforms. Most of the AI innovation at CES will eventually come to your existing tools (email, documents, CRM). You don't need to replace everything.

The Bottom Line

CES 2024 confirmed what we already knew: AI is becoming mainstream and ubiquitous. But for professional services firms, this doesn't change your strategy.

Continue implementing AI in your workflows. Focus on the use cases that have clear business value. Let the big vendors do the heavy lifting on capability improvement.

In 12 months, the AI tools you're using will be much better. That's good news. But it doesn't change what you should do today.