Technology that empowers creators, a new generation of displays, and the promise and peril of artificial intelligence dominated CES 2024. After several years of incremental advances, market development built on maturing technology, and over-hyped trends, this year felt different with an energy that suggests the beginning of a new era. Among the highlights were next generation displays, including MicroLED and transparent technologies. If a consensus emerged, it is that AI may be everywhere but it isn’t everything. “People at the heart of creativity” was Sony’s CES slogan, yet its people-centered sentiment applied broadly across the show.

More than 135,000 people flocked to Las Vegas to comb more than 2.5 million square feet of CES exhibit space occupied by over 4,300 exhibitors. CES now attracts a significant share of global media leaders and content creators. The C Space venue at the Aria Hotel not only featured packed conference sessions during Digital Hollywood and the Variety Entertainment Summit, but towers of hospitality suites buzzed with activity.

In addition to incumbent media players, the landscape now includes companies like Amazon, Samsung, LG and Netflix, which reported a reach of more than 15 million active monthly viewers one year into its ad-supported subscription tier. LG, through its webOS smart TV operating system, sells advertisers “a winning combination of global scale and unique reach,” with 35 million LG TVs in the U.S. market alone.

LG’s new 70-inch transparent OLED television (below) was named Best TV by numerous reviewers including Engadget, CNET, and Tom’s Guide. The transparent screen is intriguing but the unit respects that there are times when you don’t want to see through the picture. That’s when a shade rolls up behind the screen to give the viewer a solid picture.

MicroLED displays were also big news on the floor, with Samsung, LG, TCL, and Hisense all showing models. Samsung demonstrated a transparent MicroLED designed for commercial applications and not yet on the market.

Though not the first time, the screens are getting bigger and offer flexibility in that MicroLED panels can be assembled to create video walls. Take Sony’s Crystal LED for example, which was really the only display in their booth and was shown to demonstrate virtual production. Sony will announce new TV and other products at their own event in the spring.

CES always attracts government officials, foreign and domestic. Last year, however, a contentious election to name a Speaker of the House sidelined legislators and congressional staff. With AI and calls for some levels of government regulation to establish guardrails on this emerging technology, Washington and international capitols were widely represented.

Among the panels and sessions, Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter discussed generative AI, and said, “we are on the precipice of a huge explosion in innovation. Our job is to think about how to unleash those benefits while limiting the downside risks that can take hold when a new exciting tech comes to market.”

ETC coverage of CES continues as we prepare a comprehensive analysis of the show with particular focus on products and issues of greatest importance to the future of entertainment production, distribution and consumption.