Together, these technologies can provide critical data about customers' experience with products, provide information for customers to take action on, and more. As companies gather and use this data, they can provide better customer experience but also help to develop new products or features in next-generation products. Ultimately, Leary said, this new influx of product, usage and customer data is about creating a new customer experience. Leary used the example of a smart refrigerator whose temperature and be adjusted automatically, or have a broken part sent out to the customer, even before he is aware that the part is malfunctioning. It also enables companies to gather new information about product usage that can enhance customer relationships or product development.

Imagine this: When you leave the house, your air conditioner and lights turn off automatically. Then when a motion sensor detects a person in the house, like your house cleaner, and it sends an alert to your phone. When you arrive home, a camera recognizes who you are and the door automatically unlocks. Automated technologies like these will be at the forefront of CES, one of the world's largest tech conventions, this week in Las Vegas. They underline one major trend: Increasingly, the innovations that are making their way into your personal technology aren't physical electronics or gadgets at all.

With the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas just around the corner, market researcher Steve Koenig weighs in on the proliferation of AI, the importance of 5G and Germany's presence at the world's largest trade show. The 2018 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show is upon us: From January 9-12, 170,000 attendees from more than 150 countries are expected to descend upon Las Vegas to catch a glimpse of the latest technology that will shape our future. Since the first show, held in New York in 1967 with 117 exhibitors and 17,500 attendees, CES has grown by more than 10-fold, and now encompasses both traditional and non-traditional tech industries. DW reporter Benjamin Bathke spoke with Consumer Technology Association (CTA) senior director of market research Steve Koenig about AI applications across industries, when VR will finally become mainstream and the deployment of self-driving mobility services. DW: What can the world expect of CES 2018?

It's a not-so-classic story – you fall in love, but she does not, because she is a robot. A number of Chinese dating apps have been shut down after an investigation on dating apps fraud discovered that women on their platforms were actually AI computer programs, it's reported. According to Modern Newspaper, the mobile apps involve 21 companies. Police in southern Guangdong province said they have arrested more than 600 suspects operating across 13 provinces, including Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, after finding out that some messages and answers from some "sexy women", which customers will have to pay extra to chat with, were from AI computer programs instead. The programs usually targeted newly registered users and generated greeting messages or compliments to them from fake accounts.

The annual consumer electronics show has been dominated by Asian tech giants Samsung, LG and Sony in recent years, along with a trade show floor featuring thousands of startups hoping lightning strikes with some Las Vegas-style luck. What you historically don't see at CES are the U.S.-based tech giants Apple, Amazon or Google, which tend to show off their new products at their own heavily produced media events later in the year. But CES 2018, which kicks off with events Sunday, will have a big presence from Google as it continues its push to take on Amazon's Echo connected speaker. More: How to choose the best smart speaker for you: shopper's guide The Las Vegas Monorail, which takes delegates to and from CES and city hotels, is splattered with a huge "Hey Google," advertisement, one of the two "wake words," people use to pose queries to the Google Assistant, most notably on the Google Home speaker. Google also has a large "Hey Google," booth right outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Emotion artificial intelligence (AI) systems are becoming so sophisticated that Gartner, Inc. predicts that by 2022, personal devices will know more about an individual's emotional state than his or her own family. AI is generating multiple disruptive forces that are reshaping the way we interact with personal technologies. "Emotion AI systems and affective computing are allowing everyday objects to detect, analyse, process and respond to people's emotional states and moods to provide better context and a more personalised experience," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. "To remain relevant, technology vendors must integrate AI into every aspect of their devices, or face marginalisation." The current wave of emotion AI systems is being driven by the proliferation of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and other AI-based technology for conversational systems.

Vuzix has been a regular at CES for years, crafting head-mounted displays and smartglasses often aimed at businesses -- or very enthused wearable fans. The Vuzix Blade, its latest pair of augmented reality spectacles tries to balance that B2B / consumer sales pitch by adding a voice assistant. Amazon Alexa's newest home is a pair of smartglasses. Firstly, the crush of a CES evening show is never the best place to test out a voice assistant: you need a strong connection to make her receptive to your requests. So, pretty much all my Alexa queries fell on deaf robot ears.

With the ever-increasing popularity of Amazon Echo smart speakers, it's no surprise to see more and more companies jumping on the bandwagon and releasing devices with Alexa capabilities aimed at improving our lives. CES 2018 is now in full-swing and the Alexa powered devices are being announced in their droves. We'll be updating this list as the new devices are revealed and there are bound to be plenty, so keep checking back to see what's new. Amazon's recent releases of both the Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Fire TV stick have included Alexa built right into the remote control allowing users to talk to their television. AI-powered television is nothing new then, but that's not going to stop TV manufacturers including the functionality as standard.

GE Appliances today revealed its Kitchen Hub, a 27-inch device that replaces the range hood above the oven and stove. When released later this year, in addition to more traditional tasks like ventilation, the Kitchen Hub will control other GE appliances, show your calendar, and provide access to smart home devices like security cameras. Cameras facing outward can be used for video calls when cooking, while those facing down can be used to take pictures or video of stovetop activity. Like other connected GE Appliances devices, the Kitchen Hub will be able to work with Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. Smart control of your kitchen, combined with video chats and getting video of that incredibly chicken curry you've been perfecting, makes the hub unique compared to other offerings, but this seems like tech that will only be accessible or useful if you're tall enough to reach eye level with the top of your range hood.

Amazon's Alexa is everywhere at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2018 but as Google races to catch up, some question the long-term prospects of the "smart speaker" market.