CES 2026 Through a UX Leadership Lens: AI Is Everywhere, but Experience Still Lags Strategy

Most CES recap posts focus on gadgets, specs, and trend lists. And to be fair, there was no shortage of impressive technology on display this year. But walking the show floor and talking with teams at booths, I came away with a different takeaway.

CES 2026 was not just a showcase of AI-powered products. It was a revealing snapshot of UX leadership and AI maturity across the industry. UX is clearly alive and well, but the way AI is being embedded into products remains far more feature-focused than experience-focused.

A Quick Look at the Technology Everyone Expects

In years past, CES was dominated by television technology. Bigger screens, sharper resolution, curved displays, incremental improvements. That era feels decisively over. CES is now an AI conference.

Robots were everywhere, many humanoid in form. I watched robots kickbox each other autonomously, play music on a keyboard, and rally in ping pong matches with humans. The most impressive example by far was Boston Dynamics Atlas, now owned by Hyundai. Seeing Atlas move with speed and balance, and hearing concrete plans for it to operate alongside humans in factories, was one of the most credible demonstrations of applied AI and robotics at the show.

Another notable shift was the growing presence of B2B technology. While CES is traditionally associated with consumer products, this year I saw far more sensor providers, parts suppliers, and software platforms selling to organizations where the end user is not a consumer, but a worker.

One standout from a smaller, emerging company focused on accessibility developed an AI-powered sign language chatbot designed for contact center support, aimed at helping businesses better serve Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. It was a reminder that some of the most meaningful AI applications are not flashy, but inclusive.

Not everything impressed. Embedded AI agents in vehicles were heavily promoted, but in practice they supported a limited range of tasks and struggled with spoken language understanding.

Two AI Stories Emerging at CES

CES revealed two important AI stories unfolding in parallel.

The first is how UX teams are using AI to enhance their own performance at work.

The second is how AI is being embedded into products to enhance customer and worker experience.

Both matter, but they are evolving at very different speeds.

How UX Teams Are Using AI

Despite ongoing anxiety in the industry, AI is not replacing UX professionals. In conversations across the show, UX teams described actively experimenting with AI as part of their everyday toolkit. Designers and researchers are using AI to accelerate synthesis, explore concepts faster, and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks.

From what I heard, many teams are experimenting but in unstructured ways. AI is being adopted opportunistically rather than intentionally, often without shared principles or guardrails. The value is real, but the maturity is uneven.

One encouraging signal was who was staffing the booths. Historically, CES booths are dominated by sales and marketing. This year, I frequently spoke with product managers, designers, and design-thinking practitioners, not just from startups but from large, established companies. That shift alone signals that user experience is increasingly viewed as table stakes.

How AI Is Being Embedded Into Products

When it comes to AI inside products, the picture is more uneven.

Across many companies I visited, AI was still framed primarily as a feature. Copilots were common, layered onto existing workflows rather than fundamentally rethinking them. I saw far less predictive UX that meaningfully reduced effort or anticipated user needs in ways that felt cohesive.

One impressive exception was a generative AI design tool that rapidly produced working automotive dashboard screens. This tool not only created visual mockups based on user prompts but also generated real code that ran directly on an automotive dashboard. It was a strong example of AI improving both the design process and the final product experience without requiring extensive input from the end user.

That kind of embedded intelligence was rare. Far more common were demonstrations of what AI could do, rather than how it should behave over time.

The UX Leadership Gap in AI

This leads to the most important signal CES revealed.

UX teams are increasingly being asked to make AI usable without being part of AI strategy.

Across many companies I visited, AI capabilities were defined first by engineering or data teams. Product roadmaps emphasized what AI could do, not how it should behave, explain itself, or earn trust. UX was often brought in later to refine interfaces and smooth rough edges.

This is not a talent problem. It is a leadership and maturity problem.

Many teams are shipping AI features without shared UX principles, experience-level accountability, or clear ownership of AI experience quality. The result is fragmented experimentation and growing UX debt.

The Risks Still Ahead

The AI hype at CES was intense. Systems were positioned as memory extensions and cognitive offloading tools embedded in wearable devices and environments. This would inform and evolve one's "digital twin", allowing individuals to consult or enable their digital counterparts to take actions on their behalf. The underlying promise was that people will not need to think as much anymore.

That framing should give leaders pause. The potential consequences of diminished cognitive engagement and over-reliance on digital systems require careful consideration.

Without strong UX leadership, organizations risk eroding trust through opaque behavior and creating systems users do not fully understand. AI can be powerful, but only when people feel informed, confident, and comfortable relying on it.

What CES Signals for Leaders

CES 2026 made one thing clear. AI maturity and UX maturity are now inseparable.

UX teams are learning how to use AI to work faster and smarter. Product teams are learning how to embed AI into products. The organizations that succeed will be the ones that connect those two efforts through intentional UX leadership, not after-the-fact design polish.

This is exactly the kind of challenge I help organizations assess and navigate by aligning AI ambition with UX maturity so experience evolves as fast as technology.