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A Lawyer Goes To CES 2025: My Top 10 Takeaways – Above the Law

Attendees
at
CES
2025
in
Las
Vegas.
(Photo
by
Artur
Widak/Anadolu
via
Getty
Images)


Well,
it’s
a
wrap
for



CES
2025
.
Five
and
a
half
days
of
keynotes,
educational
sessions,
walking
exhibit
floors,
networking,
and,
well,
partying
have
come
to
an
end.
I’m
pooped.


I
covered
the
show
for
Above
the
Law
last
week
and
have
been
posting



my
opinions


about
what
I
have
seen
and,
most
importantly,
how
what
I
have
seen
impacts
the
law. 


The
Top
10


Now
that
I
have
returned
to
reality
and
had
a
chance
to
catch
my
breath,
here
are
my
top
10
overall
impressions

both
legal-related
and
general.


1.
First,
the
numbers:
The
final
statistics,
courtesy
of



CES
,
are
themselves
pretty
staggering.
4500+
exhibitors
and
141K+
attendees,
including
6K+
media.
No
wonder
I’m
worn
out.
The
number
of
exhibitors
and
attendees
was
slightly
up
over
last
year.
See
my



2024
Wrap-Up
.


2.
As
expected,
AI
was
front
and
center,
everywhere,
all
the
time.
While
many
presenters
went
out
of
their
way
to
establish
that
AI
was
becoming
embedded
in
products
and
what
we
all
do,
just
like
the
internet
or
electricity,
you
couldn’t
tell
it
from
the
exhibit
floor.
The
AI
capabilities
of
every
product
were
being
shouted
from
the
rooftops,
whether
AI
actually
had
a
significant
role
in
what
was
being
offered
or
not.
We
are
not
over
the
hype
cycle
in
consumer
products
or
in
legal
by
any
means.


3.
It
did
seem
clear
to
me
that
there
is
a
recognition
that
the
business
workforce
(and,
for
that
matter,
legal
workforce)
is
changing.
It’s
trending
younger
(think
Gen
Z),
and
workers
come
to
work
with
expectations
of
how
technology
should
empower
and
assist
them,
just
as
technology
does
in
home
life.
Law
firm
management
and
older
partners
need
to
realize
these
expectations
and
attitudes
toward
technology
in
supervising
workers,
training
workers,
and
in
the
hardware
and
software
they
provide.


4.
AI,
spatial
computing,
and
the
increased
blurring
of
the
real
and
virtual
worlds
are
coming
things.
While
I’m
not
sure
we
see
it
yet
in
the
workforce
to
the
extent
many
presenters
claim,
the
fact
that
we
are
witnessing
this
blurring
in
deepfakes
and
misinformation
suggests
we
can’t
ignore
it.


5.
I
was
impressed
by
how
many
women
and
people
of
color
were
presenters
and
offered
keynotes.
Keynote
speakers
and
key
women
presenters
included:


I
would
like
to
think
these
speakers
reflect
a
crack
in
the
glass
ceiling.
The
reality,
of
course,
is
white
men
still
hold
a
disproportionate
number
of
C-suite
positions,
particularly
in
the
tech
industry
and
legal.
Kudos
to
CTA,
though,
for
making
an
effort
to
showcase
women
and
minorities.


6.
Ahh,
the
products.
With
over
4,500
exhibitors,
it’s
impossible
to
see
even
the
tip
of
the
proverbial
iceberg
when
it
comes
to
the
products
displayed.
Here’s
the
thing,
though.
I
would
guess
some
75-80%
of
the
products
displayed
will
never
see
the
light
of
day
again.
They
are
just
too
experimental
and
pie
in
the
sky
to
go
mainstream,
at
least
not
yet.
Some
15-20%
of
the
products
displayed
do
something
that
other,
more
established
products
already
do.
That
leaves
a
small
percentage
of
products
that
we
will
actually
see
in
the
marketplace.
Why
bother
with
the
exhibit
halls,
then?
It’s
to
see
possibilities.
It’s
to
see
concepts
and
ideas.
It’s
to
see
products
that
may
morph
into
products
that
actually
do
make
it. 


What
product
did
I
see
that
I
think
may
go
mainstream?
Eyeglasses
that
double
as
hearing
aids.
It
is
too
a
good
fit
between
practicality
and
vanity
to
not
work.
One
other
end
of
the
spectrum
was
the
flying
car
that
was
touted
as
the
first
flying
car
to
fit
in
your
trunk.
WTF? 


Strangest
product
experience?
The
golden
retriever
service
dog
trying
to
get
its
head
around
the
natural-looking
golden
retriever
robot. 


7.
Robots.
There
was
an
increased
emphasis
on
robots
this
year.
Most
fit
in
the
enchanted
cute
pet
category.
A
few
exhibitors
displayed
human-looking
robots
that
could
perform
assembly
line
type
tasks.
My
guess
is
that
a
more
efficient
robot
would
be
less
human-looking
and
more
practical
oriented.
I
don’t
think
we
are
beyond
the
cute
stage
for
human
robots
quite
yet.


8.
One
thing
I
didn’t
report
on:
the
Yaccarino
Keynote.
Why?
She
said
everything
you
would
expect
someone
who
works
for
Elon
to
say.
Everyone
is
on
X.
All
the
advertisers
are
back.
The
best
way
to
fact-check
is
to
let
the
“community”
decide
what’s
true;
independent
fact-checking
be
damned.
DOGE
should
be
something
every
American
should
applaud.
(Unless,
I
suppose,
you
are
on
Medicaid,
Medicare,
or
Social
Security
and
happen
to
like
NPR).
Move
along;
nothing
to
see
here.


9.
Another
thing
I
didn’t
report
on
is
quantum
computing.
I
did
go
to
several
sessions
and
tried
to
get
my
head
around
it.
(One
presenter
said
classic
computing
is
based
on
math,
and
quantum
computing
is
based
on
physics.
I
sort
of
get
it.)
The
best
I
can
tell
from
all
the
presentations
is
that
quantum
computers
will
be
supercomputers
that
exponentially
increase
what
can
now
be
done
by
classic
computers.
But
most
agree
the
technology
is
not
yet
far
enough
along
to
know
precisely
what
applications
can
be
developed
to
work
with
these
computers.


The
use
of
quantum
computing
in
legal
is
unclear
other
than
being
able
to
do
some
things
better
and
faster.
One
thing
that
all
the
quantum
presenters
did
talk
about
(and
about
which
they
were
visibly
concerned)
was
the
impact
of
quantum
on
cyber
security.
The
sheer
power
of
these
computers
could
very
well
render
most
cyber
security
protections
obsolete.
And
precious
little
appears
to
be
being
done
about
it.


10.
Covid?
What
Covid?
Very
few
people
were
wearing
masks.
Very
few
references
were
made
to
Covid
anywhere.
I
got
the
distinct
impression
that
the
fear
of
Covid
has
faded
into
the
woodwork.
I
got
the
impression
that
this
show,
more
than
any
other,
has
entirely
returned
to
the
pre-Covid
normal.
We
shall
see
post-show,
I
suppose.
Pre-Covid,
it
was
a
standard
joke
that
most
attendees
came
down
with
the
“CES
crud”
post
show.
It
may
be
that
even
if
Covid
hits
attendees,
we
won’t
hear
much
about
it. 


What
About
Legal?


What
did
I
see
and
hear
that
will
have
the
most
significant
impact
on
legal?
Three
things:


1.
While
I’m
not
sure
agentic
agents
will
advance
as
far
and
as
fast
as
some
at
CES
seem
to
think,
I
do
believe
we
will
see
LLMs
advance
over
the
next
year
to
the
point
that
they
can
successfully
respond
to
prompts
with
multiple
tasks
and
questions.
And
make
decisions
and
recommendations
based
on
the
prompts.
This
ability
will
enable
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
to
reduce
time
on
nonproductive
work
and
enhance
efficiencies.
I
wrote
a



post


at
the
show
on
this
subject. 


2.
The
deepfake
problems
and
potential
are
real
and
getting
worse.
It
will
bedevil
lawyers
and
judges.
We
don’t
have
a
systemic
way
to
deal
with
this
crisis
and
the
gap
between
what
is
real
and
what
isn’t.
It’s
going
to
affect
litigation
and
legal.


3.
Law
firm
management
and
supervising
lawyers
need
to
deal
with
the
different
expectations
of
the
workforce
when
it
comes
to
technology.
Law
firm
management
needs
to
think
about
how
to
deal
with
the
workforce
disruption
that
is
coming
as
AI
does
more
and
more
tasks
that
humans
now
do.
If
management
doesn’t
plan,
it
will
be
faced
with
replacing
current
workers
who
know
and
understand
firm
culture
with
workers
who
may
have
the
skills
but
not
the
institutional
knowledge
and
commitment.


The
bottom
line
is
that
it’s
time
for
law
firms
and
in-house
legal
departments
to
stop
chasing
shiny
new
AI
objects
and
get
a
better
vision
of
what
the
technology
means
and
how
it
will
impact
what
we
do
and
how
we
do
it.


CES:
always
a
great
and
invigorating
Show.
Thanks



Above
the
Law


for
the
opportunity
to
cover
it.




Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads
,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.