A Lawyer Goes To CES 2025: My Top 10 Takeaways

by | Jan 15, 2025 | above the law, legal matters

Legal must move beyond chasing shiny new AI tools and instead focus on understanding the transformative implications of new technologies.
The post A Lawyer Goes To CES 2025: My Top 10 Takeaways appeared first on Above the Law.

CES 2025 – AI and robotics shape tomorrow

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.