X CEO Linda Yaccarino touts ‘holy grail’ feature as AI-powered robots, gadgets dominate show floor

LAS VEGAS – X CEO Linda Yaccarino took middle stage at Tuesday’s opening day of CES 2025 — the place throngs of tech geeks swarmed to see the most recent AI-powered robots, software program, drones and extra.

Yaccarino boasted that the Elon Musk-owned social media platform was heading into 2025 at a “breakneck velocity” throughout her featured keynote deal with on the multi-day occasion, organized by the Client Expertise Affiliation.

In her sit-down with keynote host Catherine Herridge — the award-winning investigative journalist fired by CBS News last year — Yaccarino touted a “holy grail” advertising-focused function known as “Development Genius.”

The software program routinely boosts advert campaigns on X when they’re linked to a trending subject – equivalent to an LVMH partnership with actress Zendaya that surged throughout the Golden Globes.

“It’s one thing solely X can do,” mentioned Yaccarino, who mentioned X has “rolled out and shipped greater than 250 product improvements” since Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.

The function was beta examined inside the final a number of months, she added.

Yaccarino was interviewed simply hours after rival Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg introduced that his firm would abandon its widely-criticized fact-checking in favor of an X-style “neighborhood notes” function.

“Mark, Meta – welcome to the get together,” Yaccarino quipped.

She was additionally requested about Musk’s new position alongside Vivek Ramaswamy as head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) and whether or not it will have an effect on X.

“I don’t suppose there’s two higher individuals than Elon and Vivek to try this,” Yaccarino mentioned. “As People, we should always all be rooting for the overwhelming success of Doge. I might count on different international locations to observe.”

Elsewhere on the world’s greatest commerce present, tech coverage specialists confronted off in a heated debate about whether or not antitrust enforcement taking part in out in Washington DC helps or hurting innovation.

Luther Lowe, a significant Google critic and head of public coverage at startup-focused Y Combinator, warned that Huge Tech corporations just like the search big and Apple are “attempting to choke off the oxygen provide” by taking actions that profit themselves on the expense of smaller rivals.

“If there may be vigorous enforcement towards that form of conduct when its exterior the bounds of the Sherman Act, Huge Tech can coexist with Little Tech,” Lowe mentioned.

Consultants on either side of the controversy largely agreed that President-elect Donald Trump’s number of antitrust bulldogs like Gail Slater to function Justice Division chief and Andrew Ferguson as FTC chair signaled that he would proceed a hard-nosed strategy to competitors coverage.

“They’re going to be guided by an earnest, pro-innovation agenda,” mentioned Tyler Grimm, principal at Miller Methods and ex-chief counsel on the GOP-led Home Judiciary Committee.

The present flooring at Las Vegas Conference Middle featured 1000’s of displays, together with an enormous show for Segway, which showcased a robotic lawnmower.

Tech big Siemens’ stand included particulars about its collaboration with plane startup JetZero, which is utilizing the corporate’s design software program to fine-tune a futuristic wide-bodied passenger aircraft with engines on high and particular person bag storage. A Siemens rep mentioned the corporations had been aiming to have a flying aircraft by 2030.

An enormous crowd fashioned on the sales space for Chinese robotics firm Unitree, whose humanoid robots shook palms with attendees and carried out backflips in entrance of shocked attendees.

Elsewhere, Xpeng Aero HT confirmed off what it has dubbed an “Land Plane Service” – an electrical van with a flying car that may match within the trunk. The corporate plans to make its first deliveries in 2026.

CES attendees had been nonetheless buzzing about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote deal with the earlier night time, which performed within the foyer as visitors arrived the conference middle.

Huang acquired a rock star-like reception whereas unveiling Nvidia’s highly effective next-gen Blackwell AI chip lineup on the jam-packed Michelob Extremely Enviornment inside Mandalay Bay resort. Attendees lined up for a number of hours to get inside.

At one level, the billionaire, who wore his trademark leather-based jacket, joked that he needed a beer after lugging a “defend” displaying the complete AI chip structure on stage for a number of minutes – drawing laughs from the raucous crowd.

Some content material creators within the viewers joked about taking part in “Nvidia bingo,” as Huang hit a number of buzzwords that followers of the chip provider have come to count on from his speeches.

The chips, which use AI to render extremely lifelike graphics in gadgets utilized by players and software program builders, had been the centerpiece of a presentation that originally pushed Nvidia shares to a brand new all-time excessive and drew constructive opinions from analysts. Shares later plunged amid a broader market selloff.

Huang additionally spoke extensively about plans for brand spanking new AI fashions, together with Nvidia Cosmos, a so-called “world basis mannequin” that the chief mentioned would supercharge efforts to coach software program that helps driverless automobiles and robots navigate the bodily world.

Many CES attendees and exhibitors joked that it was almost inconceivable to discover a sales space that didn’t contain AI ultimately.