The 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come to a close, and one thing is clear: the tech industry is still struggling to find practical applications for artificial intelligence (AI). From AI-powered spice dispensers to "intelligent" air fryers, many of the gadgets on display left attendees scratching their heads, wondering if they're truly innovative or just a result of industry hype.

Take, for example, Spicerr, a touchscreen-equipped spice dispenser that learns your taste preferences and recommends unique recipes. While the concept may seem intriguing, the device's utility is questionable, especially considering it doesn't grind spices and requires proprietary capsules that can't be refilled. It's hard to imagine that people were clamoring for a meal-suggesting salt and pepper shaker.

Another example is Dreo's ChefMaker 2, an AI-powered air fryer that can extract recipes from cookbooks via a page-scanning feature. While this feature may be useful, it's unclear if it's a game-changer for the air fryer-buying public. The device's ability to calculate cooking times and temperatures is certainly convenient, but is it enough to justify the "AI-powered" label?

Even more perplexing is Razer's Project Ava, an "AI gaming copilot" that captures stills of your computer screen and provides pointers on gameplay. The device has raised controversy due to its lack of credit to the authors of the gaming guides it was trained on, and its distracting interruptions to the game's audio. It's unclear who would regularly use such a device, let alone pay for it.

The proliferation of these questionable AI-powered gadgets at CES 2025 raises questions about the industry's unrestrained hype. With AI companies raising a staggering $97 billion in the U.S. alone last year, vendors are seemingly throwing AI-related features at the wall to see what sticks, without fully considering their practical applications. This approach has led to a plethora of over-promising and under-delivering products.

The limitations of AI as we know it today are also a significant factor. Figuring out which use cases of AI are technically feasible has proven to be a formidable challenge for the industry. As a result, we're left with "AI slop" – gadgets that may be technically impressive but fail to provide real value to consumers.

As the tech industry continues to grapple with the potential of AI, it's clear that we need a more focused approach to development. Rather than chasing flashy features and buzzwords, companies should prioritize creating products that truly improve people's lives. Until then, we'll be stuck with a slew of gadgets that may be impressive on paper but fail to deliver in practice.

Here's to hoping that next year's CES will bring a more nuanced and practical approach to AI-powered innovation.