Saying that AI was discussed at CES last week is a bit like saying oxygen was breathed during the giant tech confab. There was simply no way of avoiding the topic.
For Hollywood, which has been unsettled by the rise of the technology over the past couple of years, the conversation swung from near-utopian levels of optimism to deep-seated mistrust and fear. Generative AI is widely seen as a force that needs to be reckoned with, as it poses significant ethical, financial and legal challenges, with many in the creative community nervous about job security or the future value of their work. Even though strides were made and protections earned by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA during the dual strikes of 2023, the uncertainty remains.
It wouldn’t be CES, however, without blue-skying. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang delivered his annual keynote Monday, highlighting how the trillion-dollar tech giant is enabling robotic and autonomous vehicle design and leaps in quantum computing. It is also deeply involved in visual effects, animation and virtual production. Huang, prowling the stage with a smile in his signature black leather jacket, told the 14,000 attendees in the Mandalay Bay arena that Nvidia’s Blackwell, “the engine of AI, has arrived for PC gamers, developers and creatives.” He called it “the most significant computer graphics innovation since we introduced programmable shading 25 years ago.”
