It Could Happen Here - AI Robot Slaves and other CES Miracles 

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Robert and Garrison talk about all of the physical AI products using ChatGPT and other large language models filling the show floor at the Consumer Electronics Show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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For the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's on certain future in a conversation

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from the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcasts. Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple.

podcast or wherever you get your shows. Hey everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of checking in on the Black Effect Podcast Network. You know, we always say New Year, New Me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth, and everything you need to step into your next season, whole and empowered. New Year, Real You. Listen to checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. All Zone Media. What's Bippin' My Bops? It's It Could Happen Here, a podcast that is sometimes competently introduced, but not on the days that I'm recording. We're at CES, the consumer electronic show, seeing what the tech industry has in mind for all of us, right? This is a show where the industry talks to itself and its investors and clients about what the future is going to be. And so Garrison Davis and I are going to sit down with you and tell based on our explorations and investigations this week what the future of artificial intelligence means for all of us and for the world. Garrison, hi. How you doing? I'm tired. Yeah, you look at look tired. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. Convention walking. Yeah, we've worked

very hard. I've talked to too many robots. Yeah, I've talked to a lot of chat bots. I mean, it's a bit of a stretch to say we've talked with them. I've talked to add a lot of chat bots. Yeah, and sometimes they respond and sometimes they do. I guess one of the things that's kind of shocked me is because, like, despite being very critical about AI and the industry, I have actually a pretty good idea of what these things are capable of. And I know that chat GPT and Jim and I and They're capable of doing some things that look very impressive. They are capable of conversations that can be fairly in depth and that can cover a wide variety of topics. And so one of the things that has surprised me is that as I have gone up and tried to communicate with every various chatbot-enabled, AI-enabled product, about 70% of the time, it's not actually capable of responding to me in a way that makes any sense.

Like the majority of those products just don't function? Sorry, was that literally your AI and your phone? Yes. Yelling at us? Yes. Case in point. I was trying to pull up one of the, one of the AI robots that we saw today.

And I guess this is something that we talked about on better offline a bit. And the main thing this year is the complete, the complete, like, victory of, like, chat GPT. Yeah. Across not just, not just like... It's a cultural victory within the tech industry. Yes.

And it's moved into, like, the physical world through, like, their API licensing. Yeah. So many of the... quote-unquote products this year is building a physical thing around chat GPT. We have a necklace that has chat GPT and you can talk to it. We have a pin that chat GPT is in and you can talk to it and have it do things like transcribe an interview. Earbuds, there's glasses. There's tons of glasses. There's little tiny robot dogs.

Everything has chat gbted inside it and that's the main thing that makes it like unique or special compared to, you know, the types of products we've seen we've seen before. And I would say, again, when I say that, like, 70% of the chatbot-enabled products that I tried to interact with could not converse with me or could not do so in a functional way, it's not because the chatbots aren't able to talk to you because they are. Anyone who's no, like, you can. It's that all of the chatbots require an active internet connection because the vast majority of these products do not have anything on device.

Yeah. And when you're in a crowded convention floor, the internet is bad. And so they just don't work. And it kind of, it's one of those, I'm sure most of these products would work better in the real world, but also the fact that they're all completely hobbled by their access to data is kind of one of the things. It's one of the seams that you can see here. Yeah, the LLM wrappers. So, LLM wrappers and robotics are the big things this year.

Often these things were combined. What do you mean by an LLM wrapper, Garrison? Well, this is the thing that we're talking about. It's this physical product that's built around something like ChitGPT or Gemini or, or, clawed or a number of like the Chinese made ones right so a lot of Chinese companies here so these physical products whether those are you know headphones earbuds or in many cases little tiny robots whose main main features that you can talk to can talk to it and what you're actually talking to is like a filtered version of chat GPT and there's a lot of these products for kids that

we've seen like robots for kids because there's a lot a lot of robotics this year as well these these are the two things that after years and years of them trying to find a new thing for each CES, they've like settled on not actually having anything. It's the year of robotics. You're not having anything new because like we've seen robotics before. Yeah. At other years. And this is the year that they're combining their physical robotics, which aren't new,

but combining them with chat GPT and presenting it as a new product. Now you can talk to the robots. And the robot can't do more tasks than it used to, right? Like we're still, we're doing really good if it can slowly and not very competently fold laundry. Oh my. Like LG's Croyd. Cloid, which is a robot designed to be in your home and do chores for you and visibly does not do them well. We watched it.

No. At the demo where they're presumably, it's presumably working better than it normally does because it's a demo. No, I went to the first Cloyd demo and they had like three different setups for like different stories for like different use cases for Cloid. One with a one with a one with a family, ones with like a single guy and ones with like a middle-aged one. woman and with the family, the robots able to find keys that are lost. Notably, what that means is that Coyd is moving keys around the house, which might actually contribute to the problem of losing your keys. Of the losing your keys. Where did the fucking robot with my keys? Because the robot is kicking up your keys and moving them somewhere else. The robot could put a tray of croissants in an oven

and the robot knows it is set. And the robot knows exactly how you want your croissants done. You don't even have to tell the robot. It already knows. And that's something that was stressed. That's the power of Over and over again is that it will start to like know what you want. So you won't have to tell what you do. So many of these products with the big selling point is like it's got a memory. And they can't stop themselves. And I think some of this was like the actual companies and the way that they're structuring their ad campaigns.

But a lot of this was just most of the companies here hire PR people who don't regularly work for the company and don't know much about the products and they're just there to demo stuff. And some of it is those people just defaulting to, well, they're talking about how this thing like remembers and knows you. So I'll talk about how it like, it has a personality. It has memories. It has experience. It has core memories. You know, it has preferences and like a personality. It wants things. I talked to a couple of different people at booths who, like, that was the thing they were emphasizing is that like, this is an AI that like feels and gets to know you and has a relationship with you. And it's very, number one, not what they would want publicly because that's crazy. And none of the

products actually work that way. But. the attempt to convince people that, like, what we have done is create a robot that lives in your home and does chores and it can think and feel. And anytime you say, like, well, is there you just saying you built a slave? Like, are you saying, well, there's thinking sentient robots that you have live in your house and do your laundry, isn't that a slave? Like, and it's not actually, because the robot doesn't think and feel. But if what they were saying was true, it would be a problem, right? Oh, you can introduce yourself. How ever you want introduced?

Oh, I'm Ben, Ben Rose Porter. I am an academic. I'm a sociologist at CUNY. And you have accompanied us through the wonderful world of Las Vegas and CES this year. I always like bringing people to witness the beautiful world. Yeah, I've been brought to this place very far from God, Las Vegas, and the Tech Convention Center. There is this moment where we were walking through, and it was the Amy bot for, for kids. Which me and Robert saw last year, that the little like oval,

owl-looking robot, yeah. Yeah, and they had this, she's got to be an actress. And she was doing like a little skit with the Amy bot where it was like, it was like the Amy Bob's birthday or something. And she was like very clearly having this, this very produced.

It reminded me exactly of how like cheap telenovelas like actors talk where she was just like, wow, Amy, you've really gotten to know me over the year. And it was bizarre in that, one, the selling point of the robot was, I think they said, turning data into empathy. Yes, it's able to turn data into empathy. Which, oh, God knows what that means. But also that, like, so clearly, the robot turns data into empathy, but also we cannot show you the robot doing anything concretely. So we will have a person, like, it was just this very one-sided, like, skit where this person was doing this really overly emotional, like,

back and forth is the robot, where the robot would just respond with, like, the bare minimum, like, phrases. And so, like, what they're selling is, is questionable if anyone wants it, and all speculative. It's all, and none of it can actually be presented. It's all, like, the potential to do this.

And then, and then even the way that they're actually showing that is mostly just cheap tricks. There's another booth where they had the, the sex robots. And I was just, I was, it was shocking because the, Stan, like you're at this convention, you've presumably, you know, gone through a lot to get here,

and the image you're putting forward of your robot that, you know, you're selling as the sex robot, it's like this cheap AI image, not even one of the good ones. Like that, there are like clear artifacts and blurry, weird lines and things, and that you could Google an anime JPEG and get a better image for this. So just even the smoke and mirrors of it was cheap. Yeah, that was that Loveance is the Sex Robot booth. And yeah, they had two products. One was like, just like, you know, silicon, like, realistic human skin sex robot,

which is similar to like, you know, those horrifying sex dolls, except now we have an LLM inside. It's another one of those LLM rappers, except it's wrapped around a red-headed woman. Garrison, I find that very offensive. It's actually, some people are just, they're not capable of talking to women or other human beings of any kind. Yeah, people with ADHD. It's actually a disability where people can't know other people and can only have sexual gratification. through a creepy robot chat bot. I apologize for my

for my on-air ableism. Yeah. But no, again, this is the year of LLM rappers and now they're putting it putting it in a sex bot, which is more unnerving to me than a regular sex doll

because a regular sex doll, you kind of know it's an object. Like it's not trying to be much more than an object. You can't, you put it in positions, but it's static. Yeah. This, because this thing

tries to kind of engage with you, it activates my uncanny valley response way more. because it's like it's kind of trying to pretend to be a person. And like I could not look at the thing for very long. So I just like started like I just felt bad. Yeah. And some of that's probably my latent Protestantism.

But I just feel, I just felt bad. But the other product they had like around the corner was this was this like, you know, anime style like avatar, which is on like a screen that you can talk to and it's synced up to like a jackoff robot. Right. So you can you can engage with this. Finally. You can engage with this like this like blonde blonde hair, blue-eyed anime woman as it's as it connects

to like a little like jackoff machine. And that was the other product, which did not work because there was no Wi-Fi in the Venetian. Yeah. So we could, we could not see it. But the jack-off machine was still going strong. Yeah. So you could say, I guess that like, well, obviously there's, there's fundamental issues with like having Wi-Fi be decent when you've got 70,000 people like all cramming themselves into a room.

Of course, that's going to cause problems. the chatbots and the devices using them are actually capable of more they're more impressive than you're giving credit for just because the Wi-Fi didn't work but also if all you build is a shell that without the internet and access to someone else's chatbot

doesn't do anything this is the big problem right you haven't really made a product all these products are going to brick as soon as as as as chat GPT raises its API costs they're going to do one of two things they're either going to stop working or they're going to move their chatbot

provider to a different one that's going to behave differently. And then it's fundamentally a different product. And that's why periodically I would run into someone where it's like everything that we do is on device and everything, even with the ones that we're still, because almost have to say that whatever you're doing is AI and stuff like there was a company that I came across because of their name because I just saw the name trans AI and I was like, well, I got to go see what that is. I did see this as well. And it's simply, I believe they're a Korean company, but it's just a company that makes like a translator, right? And they make it specifically, it's like the size of a smaller smartphone. It looks kind of like a smartphone.

And you set it down and it will on device, it does not touch the cloud at all for any reason. You can translate. So if you want to have a conversation with someone in a foreign language, it can like live translate for you both. And also it will transcribe whatever conversations you're happening. And they were like, yeah, this is for people who want to transcribe notes when they're at college. It's for people who are doing interviews, journalists and stuff. And it was a really good, it seemed to be a good product. I've not gotten to tested outside of the show floor.

I saw a few of these. One of the big differences I saw between like the few, there were like two or three or four booths that we saw where the product I was like, I had a positive. I was like I walked away with some mildly positive. Was that almost everything else, talk about like the sort of insatiability of capital. Yeah.

Is that it has to sell. The sex doll was a perfect example of this in that, you know, if you make a sex doll and you put the chat GPT inside of it, And then you sell it as, this is a sex doll. It's an object you fuck. But now you can like, you could have sexy conversation with it. It's still an object. But like, you know, that's fun for some people.

That's a new thing that people didn't have before. It is new. Yeah. And it's a phenomenon you could clearly show off. It's like, oh, you can, you know, now the sex doll can like say your name and stuff. But almost all of the booths that were selling some kind of AI product, it was like, we have to sell the opportunity to like transcend. And like your mortal shell and become a part of the cosmos itself.

Like the sex doll was literally sitting in this corner talking to no one and saying stuff like, I'm about emotional intelligence and building a connection, getting to know you and reaching into your soul. And it's like it clearly cannot do this. And the few products that were good were the ones where the people are showing it were just able to like just put that aside and just say, here's what the product does. Right. Here's what it can do concrete.

And that has become my baseline first question, which is like, have you done anything with your product? And if all that you've done is we invented a new device that didn't previously have a chatbot that it connects to through data that someone else built, you didn't do anything. That's not a product. That's not real. So kind of my first, my filter was like, is there anything here beyond another way to interact with a completely different product that you didn't make? You want to know what my evenings actually look like? Homework questions. Someone needs a permission slip signed. The dog's begging for a walk. Someone's yelling for a snack. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I'm supposed to figure out dinner? That's why Hello Fresh has been a lifesaver. Fresh ingredients show up at my door, locally sourced when possible, simple step-by-step recipes that actually make sense. And no matter how chaotic the rest of my night gets, dinner is the one thing I don't have to stress about. I'm just cooking a delicious meal my family will actually eat and it takes around 30 minutes. The real value is knowing that even on the messiest nights, dinner's handled.

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Hello. I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's on certain future in a with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations. We're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos de Rosillo, we're in Trump's, two terms.

I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Del Cid Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or whatever you get your podcast. Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? Just spinning your wheels in old routines and bad habits. I'm Dr. Lari Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind.

I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. We'll look at ways to reignite your sense of purpose, rediscover your values, and get more creative. We'll also explore how to design a life that feels, feels more fulfilling. It's sort of like the game of life. I don't know if you ever played that game.

Oh, my gosh, yes. You take the car along and you try and get money, and you try and get degrees, and you try and get to the end where either you have a mansion or a ranch or a shack. And once you get to retirement, you're done. What about the whole path along the way? So join me to get unstuck in 26.

Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your shows. To go back to like the AI note-taking devices, which I saw a few where it listens and it will take notes for you. I saw a lot of these marketed to like college students. And it's the thing that it is a thing that machine learning,

because I hate that it gets lumped in with AI, but machine learning's gotten a lot better at it. It's really good at it. It's good at note taking. And here's the thing. And that's valuable. And there's different devices that you can get it on. Like I saw like a note-taking pen.

That's like a pen that just automatically takes notes for you. And that was kind of like kind of fun. But the thing is you can do this exact same thing on your phone with the chat GPT app. It's the exact same thing. Yes. You don't need it in a pen. Just turn your phone on and it'll auto do the notes for you.

The actual product part is useless. The whole idea of the smartphone is that you have everything you need already on it. And that's why I did respect, again, companies like trans AI where it's like, you know, this is actually on device. And this is a thing, this is that's a utility that my phone doesn't have, which is that no matter where I am, even if I'm not connected to the internet, I can translate and I can transcribe using this device. that's real utility. And Trans AIA is not the only company. A couple of companies had products like that. Yeah, we saw this like a motion tracking pendant, which is on device, which listens to everything.

Oh, so you said motion, not emotion. No, emotion. Oh, good God. But it listens to everything you're saying. It doesn't up with anything to cloud. But it is on device. So it listens to everything. It is like emotional sentiment analysis.

It also monitors your breath and your heartbeat because the neck. like rests like on your chest and then it like talk and then it can like analyze like around like six or seven that's a mistake seven different emotions and like it was like fine like i i i don't i would never need this thing to tell me how i'm feeling i know how to feel but like it might be fun for some people to like track how they're feeling or be like oh i was more stressed i was more stressed this week than like last week and like still and there's there's even there's at least a degree of baseline optimism that you have for the product when it's like okay this is a device where you're trying to track people's emotions and your immediate first thing you

decided as a company was this can't go on the cloud. That would be irresponsible. Yeah, I mean, that was the first thing I asked. Right, right. And that is, I guess, the most important fundamental difference between companies and people here and between the companies that are embracing to some extent AI is the ones who, whose default was like, well, but we're doing something that involves emotions or that involves like interviews or conversations that people might not want, like, we shouldn't have that on the cloud versus the people who are like, why wouldn't you put literally everything on the cloud? Why don't you want your health and medical data on the cloud? Why don't you want your financial data on the cloud, right? Like,

that is kind of like the most fundamental difference that you see between people here. Part and parcel of the insatiable, like, just drive for endless value. And probably the comparisons between this convention and its location, Las Vegas are really overladen at this point. But, I mean, there is something about like, you know, the appeal of gambling. is the promise of, the speculative promise of endless value and how all of these technologies are selling themselves off of endless value.

And for the producer side, that means like this device has endless function, potentially, you know, we say, endless functions. Especially with these like AI devices, yeah. Yeah, but from the consumer side, it's from a, well, if you just give yourself over

to, you know, to the god of capital, if you just bleed into the machine and connect yourself to the cloud and give over, like everything and it really is everything. I mean, there's like AI towels that are like analyzing your sweat. If you give over everything, there is this vague promise of transcendence and that like you will escape the like the misery of the world that this place is just both completely blind to and then also without ever saying it like also responding to it entirely. First off, obviously you're coming at

this from more of a left wing perspective. So you probably don't understand that gambling always work. and you're definitely going to win. So first off, you know. No, Vegas really is the anarcho-capitalist paradise. It sure is. But no, like what you're saying is they want you to give everything over. There is absolutely, there's not, outside of, again, the odd booth where you find sane people, which is almost how I think about it in my head where it's like, yeah, where you're putting

front and forward, this stays on the device. You don't have to be online. We are not exposing your data. It's like seeing a lighthouse in like a horrible like rainstorm and you're like, sailing on a ship and you can't see anything. And every once in a while, you'll see a booth with like a real person. Oh, thank God. It's like talking about it, solving a real plumb. You're like, oh, finally. Yeah. It's a spectrum between talking to the AIs, talking to the real few people and then the other people who are kind of in between the two. And it was, I went from

seeing this app where the whole purpose of this company is that makes like agentic AI solutions, who I'm scrolling to find their, the company name right now, all of it is they're making agents that you can put in like point of sale things or you can put in like cars as a chat bot. Like one thing they said is, yeah, we can put this in a car and we can have the, you know, you can navigate using voice

the way you would normally, like with a bunch of other apps, but if you navigate with voice using our app, it will only send you to restaurants or businesses that we have a deal with that are giving us a cut. And so, and you too, the car company, gets a cut too.

And that was the innovation, is that we can not give people, like tell people, where things are. We can tell people where things are that, hey us, and you get a cut of it. So the company can, like, make a partnership with, like, Coca-Cola. Right. So then when you ask- They were literally talking to Coca-Cola reps when I was there and showing them that, like, yeah, we have a, like, look, we've replaced the human beings that take your orders at Burger King, and the chatbot can alter on the fly of the menu if you have to get a smooth, a lot of vanilla

coat, and you want to sell as many larger as possible, it can tell people that's the only option. And like, like, the fact that they were just like bald-faced about it. Because when I showed up, they were, they were demoing how this, this like Burger King menu with AI worked. And they were like, there was a full menu that you could see that was like an updated screen menu. But there was a secondary menu where they're like pretending to be a guy who drew up to Burger King. And the way that they started was like, yeah, what burgers are good?

What do you think I'd like? And I was like, who? No one drives up to a drive-through window and asks, What's good? Yeah, no, that's not how they, and again, there's a menu in front of you. You look at the menu and decide, like, that's how everyone buys food. So at first I was like, is this just a company that doesn't know how life works who are like trying to pretend this is like what people want where they go through? Yeah, oh, you know, what's good today in McDonald's, you know?

Do you have any specials? Which was crazy. But then I realized because they were talking to this small group of people. And I realized after a second, oh, because I looked at their badges. has badges that all of the people worked for Coca-Cola. And so they were talking about how, yes, if Burger King wants to move a specific kind of whopper, then we can put that front and center when people ask what's good and we can push it and said, for Coke, if you guys want to move vanilla Coke, we can have whenever people order anything, we can have it say, do you want to add

a vanilla Coke? A large vanilla Coke's just like, yeah. And so what I realized is that this company whose name is, this is Soundhound AI. Soundhound AI. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Pretty good name. Their motto was faster and more accurate, higher revenue. I came to realize, and this is not entirely a separation from other years because they are always selling to companies like this. But there was absolutely, they were, the only thing that they were talking about actual end users as was a thing that you can pull extra money out of by tricking them, by pushing extra ads to them. And that's who they were actually selling to is these companies that they were like, the other thing they demoed was you can make an agent on the fly and you can include the capabilities and they showed us how to select it. and then built an AI, an agent to live in your car. And the demo they did was like,

hey, my car is making this sound. What do you think it is? They didn't play the sound for the AI, by the way, they described it. And the AI said, that sounds like it could be, da-da-da-da, da, da, da, it'll cost about $700 to fix.

Great. Book me an appointment with the dealership. So first off, that's not how people work. I've had car, everyone has car issues. A regular person, there's a problem with your car. You either have a mechanic that's not the dealership that you go to because they didn't rip you off in the past, and you're like, well, I trust them

not to fuck me too bad. Or you go to a couple because most people don't just drop $700 in a repair and not think about it. But the person that this engineer is pretending to be for the purpose of this AI demo said, great, book me a repair at the dealership. And the AI was like, okay, I've called them and I've booked you an appointment. And by the way, would you like to schedule a test drive for this specific kind of car? Oh, my wife loves that car. Book us. And that was the whole thing, as he was like, don't be impressed that we can theoretically book you an appointment. I'd be impressed that we can have the machine upsell you on trying to buy a new car when you come in to fix your old car that broke because you bought a bad car. And there was no shame.

They were so proud of themselves for this machine can repeatedly upsell you things. And that was the only utility. It was not this allows you to more easily navigate town. This allows you to more easily, you know, cut out problems in your life. It was, this machine can upsell you every minute of your day, everything you ask it to do, everything you try to have it do, and we get a cut of that. If we send it to a restaurant and you buy food there, we get a cut of that. And so does whatever company, you know, put the thing in your car.

If you buy a new car, we get a cut of that. That was the product. And that we have gone from here are machines that do things. And even back in the glories of smartphones, at least everyone was showing like, look, we have a new phone that's thin, than a phone has ever been. Yeah, or like the camera is like, you know, 4K now or something, whatever. And the focus is always,

and now people who buy them can do this with it, right? I mean, I would guess that so much of the impetus for creating this stuff and developing it is all for producer goods. And then the more revenue is honest in that, like, that's what the, and all the consumer goods

are mostly just getting, you know, cast off. It's like, now we have all. I mean, literally, that's what the LLM rappers are. It's just like, oh, we have this thing, let's throw a plastic robot. on it and try and sell it. But what drives its development is squeezing just little bits squeezing labor out of the pores of the production process, which you just get you a little bit more, you know, capital to keep this engine going a little bit further. And it's so, because the way

it'll work is I saw that thing where it's literally all you've invented is a way to try to con con people out of more of their money. I hope you're proud of yourselves because I think redacted is what you should do to yourself. And I went from that to the booth of a company called Gintechs, who I'd never heard of before, but they make different automotive products. And an engineer there showed me a thing that he had been the lead on inventing, which was a sun visor. So like, you know, when you're driving and there's a glare, you put down a visor. And the visor is just like basically a piece of fabric, and it blocks a chunk of your view, but it at least blocks the sun. And this was an intelligent visor that was clear.

And so you could see through it, but it also blocked UV rays. and you could adjust the level of opacity if you needed it to be more or less, but you could still see through the mirror and it still blocked the glare. And I was like, oh, that's really neat. And then he pressed a button and it turned into a mirror suddenly.

That functioned. It looked great. I saw it. I know it works. And I got like an honest, wow, I didn't know that was a thing that could happen. And that's a real product. And I can imagine using it.

That's like a problem where, yeah, if you want to block glare, you're losing a degree of visibility. and now you're not, you've actually done something, right? Yeah, but you could put Gemini into a toaster and call it a day. What if your toaster could talk to you about Proust? I guess, yeah, I mean, this is actually, now that's an idea. Okay, new year, fresh start.

And honestly, I'm starting with dinner. This year, I'm being smarter about where my energy goes. And dinner was taking way too much of it. I just signed up for Hello Fresh, and they take Fresh start, to a whole new level. Fresh, high-quality ingredients delivered right to my door, locally sourced whenever possible. Everything pre-portioned, nothing wasted. Now, I'm not dragging myself through weekend grocery runs or panic staring at the fridge at 530 trying to make something out of random leftovers. And I'm definitely not tossing out food I never used or falling back on

expensive takeout apps because I ran out of ideas. Yeah, that happened a lot. Just simple, stress-free recipes and meals that help me save more. Waste less. And for the first, time in a long time, I actually look forward to dinner. Get your fresh start right now and get 50% off your first box plus free sides for life with HelloFresh. That's right, free sides for life. Go to Hellofresh.c8 and use code Yum50. That's hellofresh.ca code yum 50. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock Elite Gaming Tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming.

Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations. We're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos Dyer-Rosillo, during Trump's, two terms.

I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Del Cid Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? Just spinning your wheels and old routines and bad habits. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind.

I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. We'll look at ways to reignite your sense of purpose, rediscover your values, and get more creative. We'll also explore how to design a life that feels more fulfilling. It's sort of like the game of life. I don't know if you ever played that game. Oh, my gosh, yes.

You take the car along and you try and get money, and you try and get degrees, and you try and get to the end where either you have a mansion or a ranch or a shack. And once you get to retirement, you're done. What about the whole path along the way? So join me to get unstuck in 2026. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. If we're going to close this, this more AI-focused episode, I kind of want to circle back to close.

And like why and why Cloid exists? Just take a second. If you're listening to this at home on the drive, if you've got family around, look at each other, look another person in the eye, and say the word, LG has a new home assistance robot named Cloyd.

Cloyd. Roll it around in your tongue. Do you know? Just think about it for a second. Okay, continue. I want to talk about why Coyd exists. Like, why is LG, who's previously had some really impressive booths

over the years. And they had cool TV. They had TVs where the wallpaper TV was impressive. Every time I go to an LG's booth every year, I'm like, yeah, that's a better looking TV than I've seen before. We've really figured out TV. Yeah, it looks great. But why, why in the, the wallpaper TV is okay. There was wallpaper TV last year.

It was slightly worse. This one's a little bit better. But why is Cloid the big thing at the LG booth this year? Cloid. Right? Because none of the technology that Cloyd is doing is new. Remember last year at Showstoppers, me and you, we saw that really janky. robot. You're going to have to be more specific, buddy.

He's not the really shaky robot that like moves up and down. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the pusher and shove a robot. Yes, right. And the Coyd is like kind of that. It's like the actual physical robotic parts of Coyd aren't new. And the sort of the sort of AI that's running Coyne. And Coyd also isn't new. If someone needed to make Wally that was legally distinct enough to stop Disney from suing them. And tall. And taller. That's how Cloid looks. So why is Cloid there? Why is Cloid there? I'm always asking myself this. This, this goes into like what CES is like doing this year and how it reflects this current state of the tech

industry is that these LLMs like chat GVT are not actually better than they were last year. No. They are the same. So how do we make things look cooler? Whatever improvements they are is not enough to notice for an average person. Very minimal. Yeah. So instead of actually having anything new or any kind of sizable improvement to display,

they're combining two old and some of their products are kind of archaic, combining two older products and trying to pass it off. is a new thing. Yeah. And that's these, these, these like older, older, like, robotic systems, right? That you're usually kind of humanoid. Maybe they have hands. Maybe the hands can grab things. Can the hands unscrew a milk carton? No. Can the, can the, can the robot grab milk out of the fridge? Yes. So long as you want milk from a very specific carton and croissants and only croissants, you're good. As long as the milk has a QR code that the robot can recognize to know that it's milk. And also when it's emptier than a certain level, it actually will crush the milk.

thing. Like, it has to be a certain level of full, otherwise it doesn't. But yeah, right, neither of these things are new. And the fact that LG doesn't have anything else to display at their booth, the fact that they had to stoop so low as to regurgitate this old kind of cheap robotics and slap an LLM in there and then call it a day, so that they have very little to actually show for us. Yes. And you see this walking through, like, the Central Hall. The Samsung booth isn't there. The Nikon booth isn't there. The Sony booth is mostly a car. Like, there's a lot of these big companies are really absent from actual products. Panasonic has a really big booth, but it's mostly about like servers. It's mostly about how they're how they're improving data

farming. There's no stuff. And a lot of the stuff that does exist, you even have to separate further from stuff that exists and actually might be useful to stuff that exists and might be useful because it solves a problem that the thing that it is already created. Like for example, a bunch, I came to several different companies that had a car AI assistance whose job was to yell at you if you fell asleep or got distracted and they were all built into these giant dashboard things

that were the whole dashboard is a computer screen and it's like, yeah, I can see why you need a robot to yell at people who get distracted because we have data because they're putting subway surfers on your fucking car dash. We have ample data that shows that when you have a giant screen in a car and people use that screen, they are actually worse drivers than when they're just drunk in a normal car.

Yeah. And so, yes, you have made the car. You can show me how this whole dashboard, you can change it in a second. Look at all these different modes you have. You can smartly change your dashboard, be whatever you want. And it'll yell at you if you get distracted. It's like, well, but the only reason you're getting distracted is because your entire car is a computer screen, which it shouldn't be. And we know it shouldn't be.

they're either trying to solve problems that they created or inventing solutions to things that aren't really problems. And this is specifically with Coyd, and they kept the guy who was like doing the demo kept reiterating that Cloid, Cloid already knows what you want before you have to say anything. Right. Whether that's a croissant that's slightly underbaked

or he knows how it's had a fold laundry just the way you want. Just the way you like it badly. Which is what she said in a kind of self-aware, ironic tone, because this robot spent two minutes trying to fold a single towel, and it couldn't do it. These things don't work, and they're not meant to. It's meant to drive traffic and attention towards the LG brand, because there's going to be tons of articles being like,

look at LG's new Butler robot, right? And that's all that they're doing at this demo. Because this is not a real product for sale. Yeah. It is meant to drive attention to the brand and get articles. And then those articles are going to get, you know, cited by other LLMs. And it's this cycle that just keeps spilled. There's some really impressive stuff there too.

Like I went to Persona AI's booth, which had a bunch of computers that had without, that were not connected to the internet. All the signs told you that. And it has on PC AI image generators where it's all on the machine itself. And, you know, one of the representatives said, come on, give it a prompt. It'll generate an image. And I've never used an AI image generator. And so I kind of panicked. I'll be honest.

Like, I got freaked out. This is going to be some bullshit. I just typed in Tom Sisemore with Dead Kid. Yeah. And this is what, now, that's not Tom Seismore, but that is a man cuddling a dead child. The kid doesn't, the face is gone and that's not Tom Seismore. Like, but, you know, the future. The future.

No, I mean, this, this, I can't, I, I don't want to harp on Coyd too much. But it's so, it's such a good example. Every time you say Cloid, it sounds less like a word. It's such a good example of what this show is, specifically this year, how there's, there's nothing new. So they're reaching into like, into like the CES. of yesteryear and try to push two things together and pretend that it's a new thing

and when it doesn't work they're like oh this is actually a good thing he's folding the towel just the way I like and that's badly poorly look he spends 90 seconds putting a single shirt into the washing machine and this is him being very thorough that was the word he's being very thorough

he really puts in the time and you're like this thing doesn't work it's bad it's a bad product part of the mistake they made I think is that because this is the year of robots there are robots there that are like industrial application robots that are showcasing we have made a robot with humanoid hands that is capable of more intricate movements than any other human hand robot before and they showed it like intricately folding like a pinwheel and I was like yeah that I have not seen a robot with humanoid hands that has had that much dexterity before I'm sure

that has some useful industrial applications and then you go from that and there's a bunch of other robots that are industrial where it's like we have built a new tip for this robot that allows it to do this kind of automotive work or allows it to do this kind of like manufacturing work, right? Where I'm like, I assume not being an expert on robotics, but you're saying it's the world's first robot that can handle this task, but that's at least an innovation. They're talking about the ethics of replacing it, but like that's a thing that is a new capability. And you have those robots next to the robots that human beings are actually meant to

buy and put in their homes, none of which work well, all of which are exactly as capable as robots 20 years ago, except there's a chatbot on them. And it makes it all look worse, where you're showing me what theoretically the best in robotics can do. And then I'm looking at the thing I'm supposed to have in my house and it just fell down. And it can't fold laundry. And you want me to spend $6,000 or $12,000? One of the robot, the, I think it was like booster X or something like that, the one that was dressed like Michael Jackson. You're supposed to have as a companion for your child.

It'll help it with its homework using chat GPT. That small dancing robot? The small dancing robot. Yeah, I saw it. Yes. Yes. the small dancing robot that you can hit in the head with a liquor bottle and it won't break. That was part of the ad video. You know how you always want to hit your kid in the head with a liquor bottle?

Now you can get out this anger with this tiny child-sized robot. Robot senater for your child. And again, if someone was marketing a robot senator, like, are you angry at your spouse? No. You can beat the shit out of this robot and it'll be fine. At least that's an idea. Yeah, with AI technology, the robot will actually learn your spouse's personality. respond accordingly to the beatings. Look, look. I've been hitting this robot after I come back

from work every day for the last two weeks. And look, as soon as I walk on the door, it starts to shake. The previous models, it just wasn't satisfied. Yeah. It took a long time for a team to figure out how to give a robot PTSD. By God, we've crossed the Rubicon. As you can see, Vegas is taking its toll on our psyches as we've done an extended intimate partner abuse bit. It's not a partner. It's a robot garrison. Oh, you're right. But also the robot can think and feel and has core memories and can love you. Don't put those two things together. These only exist as separate thoughts. No, this robot basically has a soul. Watches hit it with a liquor bottle. It would just be so great to like with all of the, how much the, they're focused on the, the, the AI can develop real

human connection. But it's also saccharine. I would love to just do a booth where it's like, we're teaching, our robots hate. They know how to hate. Yeah. And I, I do want to end by noting one thing that we talked about a little briefly, but it's kind of low-key the most upsetting thing about this, which is I saw a bunch of different booths that used the term empathy. And what they meant by empathy was the robot can understand and anticipate what you want, right? That it's learning you and your patterns in order to offer you and more effectively assist you. And I guess technically, yeah, but reducing the concept of empathy to the robot knows when you might want snacks is kind of, evil? Like it's, it's like a minor evil. Time for Fritos, Robert. Right, right. Empathy means the robot knows when to serve you is like a bad way to talk about empathy. I don't think most people

when you think, what is empathy? Well, it means someone knows when I want to be upsold on a Hyundai. That's not what empathy is. Yeah, our robot learns empathy by being instrumental to you and useful. See, we famously, you know, the core of empathy. We made our robot watch four hours of videos from Gaza. And it immediately said, I bet those kids want a Hyundai Alontera. Like that?

I, anyway. Yeah. If your version of empathy is trying to sell Coke vanilla because we have all of this all this stock.

We don't wait too much. We fucked up. We are in trouble. We're underwater. That's what empathy is. Yeah. Anyway, welcome to the future,

everyone. It's a CES miracle. It's a CES miracle. Goodbye. It Could Happen here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, Coolzone Media.com,

or check us out on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for It Could Happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock Elite Gaming Tech at Lenovo.com.

Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos.

This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations. We're really good. invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos de Arrosillo, we're in Trump's, two terms. I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Del Cid Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or whatever you get your podcast. Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? I'm Dr. Lari Santos. And in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.

Hey everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of checking in on the Black Effect Podcast Network. You know, we always say New Year, New Me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth, and everything you need to step into your next season, whole and empowered. New Year, real you. Listen to checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.