CES 2026 is wide open in Las Vegas, and the pattern is clear: AI is no longer just a cloud buzzword. It’s in chips, cars, robots, construction gear, calendars, TVs and even a throwback phone with a physical keyboard.
Here’s a fast lap around the biggest reveals from Nvidia, AMD, Ford, Amazon, Razer and more.
Nvidia: Rubin architecture and Alpamayo for autonomous vehicles
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang used his trademark marathon keynote to do three things: brag about the company’s AI wins, sketch out its 2026 roadmap, and literally hang out with robots.
The headline: Nvidia’s new Rubin computing architecture will start replacing its current Blackwell line in the second half of 2026. Rubin is built to handle the rising compute and storage demands that come with mainstream AI adoption. TechCrunch’s senior AI editor Russell Brandom digs into the low-level details, but the message from Nvidia is simple: more speed, more memory, more everything for AI workloads.
Nvidia also pushed deeper into the physical world of machines and vehicles. It showcased Alpamayo, a family of open source AI models and tools that will power autonomous vehicles rolling out this year. As TechCrunch’s Rebecca Bellan notes, that strategy mirrors Nvidia’s broader push to make its infrastructure the Android-equivalent for generalist robots.
AMD: Ryzen AI 400 and PC-first AI strategy
AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su delivered the first official CES keynote, and she stacked the stage with AI royalty and power users. OpenAI president Greg Brockman, AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, Luma AI CEO Amit Jain and others all showed up as partners.
Behind the star lineup, the core story was about getting AI off the data center rack and into everyday machines. Senior reporter Rebecca Szkutak reports that AMD is using its Ryzen AI 400 Series processors to push AI deeper into personal computers.
The pitch: the next wave of AI won’t just live in the cloud. It will run on your laptop, workstation and edge devices, with AMD chips doing more of the on-device inference work.
Ford and Caterpillar: assistants for drivers and heavy machinery
Automakers and industrial giants are leaning hard into AI helpers.
Ford is rolling out an AI assistant in its mobile app first, with a targeted 2027 launch inside its vehicles. The system is hosted on Google Cloud and built on off-the-shelf large language models. As TechCrunch’s coverage notes, Ford isn’t saying much yet about what the in-car experience will actually feel like, beyond the branding and backend stack.
Caterpillar, meanwhile, is teaming up with Nvidia on a pilot called Cat AI Assistant. Demonstrated at CES on one of Caterpillar’s excavators, the system is part of a broader collaboration that includes using Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation tools to plan and execute construction projects more safely and efficiently.
The subtext here: AI copilots are coming not just to passenger cars, but to job sites and heavy industry.
Boston Dynamics + Google: training Atlas with Google AI
Hyundai used its press conference to double down on robotics via Boston Dynamics. The twist: Boston Dynamics and Hyundai are working with Google’s AI research lab, not rival AI vendors, to train and operate existing Atlas robots and a new humanoid version that appeared onstage.
Transportation editor Kirsten Korosec has the full rundown, but the partnership underlines a theme running through CES 2026: AI models from big cloud players are quietly becoming the brains inside the most advanced robots on the planet.
Amazon’s Alexa+, Fire TV and Ring expansion
Amazon showed up with a very on-brand message: Alexa is getting more AI, and it’s going everywhere.
The company is pushing Alexa+, its AI-centric update to the assistant, and opening Alexa.com for Early Access users who want to talk to the chatbot in a browser. There’s also a revamped, bot-focused mobile app.
On the hardware side, Amazon is giving Fire TV and its new Artline TVs their own Alexa+ push. Consumer editor Sarah Perez walks through how the TV experience and AI assistant are being fused more tightly.
Ring, another Amazon brand, used CES to widen its footprint too. Consumer reporter Ivan Mehta details new fire alerts, an app store for third-party camera integrations and other updates that further entrench Ring in home security setups.
Clicks Communicator: BlackBerry vibes with a quote-worthy keyboard
One of the buzziest devices on the show floor isn’t a headset or a robot. It’s a phone with a physical keyboard.
Clicks Technology debuted the $499 Communicator, a smartphone that channels pure BlackBerry nostalgia, plus a separate $79 slide-out keyboard that works with other devices.
Consumer Editor Sarah Perez went hands-on and came away impressed by the ergonomics:
‘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.’
In a show dominated by disembodied AI assistants, a chunky, keyboard-first phone cutting through the noise says a lot about how people still want to interact with their devices.
Razer’s Project AVA and Motoko: AI gets weird again
Razer usually uses CES to show off wild hardware concepts — think three-screen laptops, haptic gaming cushions and even a mask that attracted a federal fine.
This year, the madness comes via AI. Project Motoko aims to deliver smart-glasses-style functionality without the glasses. Project AVA puts an AI companion avatar right on your desk. These are concept projects for now, but they’re a reminder that Razer sees AI as a playground, not just a productivity tool.
AI in the living room: Skylight Calendar 2 and Roku’s $3 bet
On the more practical side of home life, Skylight Calendar 2 stood out on the show floor. It’s a family planning hub that uses AI to sync calendars from multiple sources, generate new to-dos from messages or photos and send appointment reminders.
Elsewhere at CES breakout sessions, Roku talked about expanding its $3 streaming service, hinting that the ultra-budget content wars are only getting started.
Lego’s first CES: Smart Bricks and Star Wars sets
Lego attended CES for the first time to quietly show off its Smart Play System behind closed doors.
Senior writer Amanda Silberling reports that Smart Bricks, tiles and Minifigures can all interact and play sounds, and the first sets are themed around Star Wars. It is pure Lego: tactile, playful and, notably, not screen-based — even as it embraces more digital intelligence.
Breakout sessions and CES oddities: retro, Theranos and more
CES 2026 isn’t just about booths and keynotes. The side sessions delivered their own headlines:
- Palmer Luckey leaned into retro aesthetics in a talk that contrasted nostalgia with bleeding-edge tech.
- Speakers warned that the ‘learn once, work forever’ era may be over, as AI reshapes jobs and skills.
- Attendees got a preview of The Audacity, a new Silicon Valley-based series.
- Roku detailed plans around its low-cost $3 streaming service.
- All-In podcast host Jason Calacanis even put a $25,000 bounty on an authentic Theranos device.
TechCrunch has a running list of the strangest gadgets at the show, along with a live blog of the team’s on-the-ground reactions, for those who want to go deeper down the rabbit hole.
The real CES 2026 story: AI as background radiation
Strip away the neon and stunt demos, and CES 2026 looks like a turning point.
Nvidia and AMD are racing to supply the silicon. Ford, Caterpillar, Hyundai and Boston Dynamics are wiring AI into vehicles and robots. Amazon is threading Alexa+ through TVs and smart homes. Startups are experimenting with new form factors, from Clicks’ retro Communicator to Razer’s desk-bound AI companions.
AI is no longer the main attraction; it’s becoming the layer underneath almost everything on the show floor.
