Why AI will dwarf every tech revolution before it: robots, manufacturing, AR glasses from CES 2026

**Jason** (0:05)
Thanks for coming out, everybody. We're going to have a great full contact, super hardcore discussion about the future, specifically around AI, which I think is the most important theme, not only of CES 2026, as we've seen with all the incredible gadgets, chips being launched, self-driving. But it's going to be the most important transformation of our lifetimes. I think everything we've seen over the last 30 years of technology, from the PC revolution to cloud computing, to the internet, mobile, all of that is going to be dwarfed in comparison to the impact that AI is going to have on society. If you're here at CES, you know that you're here for that reason. And we've got two amazing guests who are going to join us to have this debate. And additionally, I've brought my box, a box filled with all the ghosts and gadgets of Christmas past. And we're going to go through those at the end of our discussion. But here's a quick video of our guests who will be joining me today.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:09)
From boardrooms to the White House and beyond, McKinsey's influence in business is virtually unparalleled.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:14)
It's one of the largest and most influential consulting firms in the world.

**Jason** (1:18)
Enterprise can move faster than any of us expected, which is good news because these problems aren't going to be the problems of an next generation. They're going to be the problems of our leadership generation. Making this system of government better on both efficiency and effectiveness is key for economic growth and for national defense. We also think that some of the private sector insights that we have brought to the public sector can drive innovation.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:43)
Our next guest leads venture capital firm General Catalyst.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:46)
With $40 billion in assets in our management as of the mid year.

**Hemant Taneja** (1:49)
Our aspirations in venture capital is to be the best seed firm in the world. The decisions we're making, the companies we're building are going to impact the world for centuries to come.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:59)
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Bob Sternfels and Hemant Taneja. Gentlemen, welcome.

**Jason** (2:14)
All right, let's do it.

**Hemant Taneja** (2:16)
Let's do it.

**Jason** (2:18)
So we're here at CES 2026
It's really interesting to watch this conference get this new life breathed into it. We had this period during COVID when CES obviously had to take a pause. And we were wondering in Silicon Valley, hey, is anybody going to show up at CES? Is it still relevant? Do people care? And now look at this. This is one of the largest ones ever and everybody's here. I saw Lisa from AMD, Jensen from NVIDIA, Uber, Neuro, Waymo. The change is amazing. I think maybe to start, you spent a career at McKinsey trying to accelerate change and in venture capital, you know, literally building these businesses from the seed stage on. How do you look at the pace of innovation and change in this past two years since ChatGPT was launched compared to the first thirty years of our careers were all of a certain Gen X age compare the last two or three years to the 30 before it? Yeah, well, first Jason, thanks and it's great to be up here with you guys. And yeah, I would just say this week is amazing. I think there's over one hundred and fifty thousand folks here this week. And you talk about CES being back. I think CES is back and that's great. And and with all of these things happening, I think there is such a premium on folks from different perspectives, getting together, because that's where new ideas are created. And and my big hope and why we're here is when you mix and mingle with different folks, you come up with new things and the world needs new things. And and what I love is you mentioned a lot of the tech leaders. What's exciting for this is I think everybody sees tech as part of the equation. And so when I look at the folks here in CES, you see not only the technology leaders, the investors, but you see folks from almost every industry vertical that are here now because they know that technology doesn't sit on the side. It's central to everything we do. And I get to your question. Look, I think we're moving at literally warp speed now. It's just night and day different. It's almost a, you know, DCAD type of thing when you can see the change of pace. And I haven't met a CEO yet that isn't talking about how do I get my organization moving faster? It's quite frankly, less about strategy. It's more about organizational speed. Hemant, how does this feel compared to our first, you know, a couple of decades where companies would take two or three years to release a product, and now companies are releasing products in two or three weeks, two or three months?