Consumer technology has entered a phase in which adding AI to everything has become a fashion. The problem is not that artificial intelligence is being used. The problem is that it is being inserted without much thought, without evident need and often without benefit. For many companies the question no longer seems to be whether AI solves a problem here, but how a product can be sold with AI in its name.
This year’s CES in Las Vegas, held in early January, offered plenty of examples.
Coaches that narrate your failures
In gaming, AI assistants now offer advice during play, deliver sarcastic one-liners and comment on each mistake. Razer’s Project Ava, shown at CES 2026 as a desktop AI companion that watches the screen and coaches the player in real time, is the most prominent example, and the company presents it as an improvement to the experience. The pitch is understandable, but it works against what makes games satisfying. Playing is a process of learning, failing and improving on one’s own, not listening to a digital voice point out, moment by moment, where you are falling short.
Some companies are going further, with systems designed to play through a difficult section on the player’s behalf when they get stuck. It is marketed as assistance. In practice it raises an obvious question: if the game is played for you, what is left of playing? Such features do not build skill or deliver satisfaction. They make the user more passive.
Headsets that measure but do not help
Another example is the gaming headset built on neurotechnology, which claims to read brain signals and improve performance. In most cases these systems display data rather than change anything. Turning reaction time, attention and focus into numbers may be scientifically interesting, but for an ordinary buyer the benefit is limited and the price is high.
Companions that deepen the problem they claim to solve
The most troubling category is the AI “companion” or “soulmate” device, sold as a substitute for emotional connection. Rather than easing loneliness, products like these risk deepening it. Human relationships involve conversation, disagreement and empathy. Replacing them with an artificial, controlled and perpetually agreeable machine is not a sign of a healthy society, and the long-term effects on users, especially young or isolated ones, are not well understood.
A tool turned into a sales story
These examples point to a larger problem. AI has been turned from a tool into a marketing narrative. The result is a wave of products that are expensive, complicated and often unable to justify their own existence. The purpose of technology should be to improve people’s lives, not to make every experience artificial and dependent on a service.
Consumers and companies alike would benefit from asking a simpler question before buying or building: is AI actually needed here? If the honest answer is no, leaving it out is the better design decision. Responsible technology strengthens the person using it rather than trying to take their place.
