AI is everywhere – in our offices, in our homes and on our screens. It’s so sprawling that most of us will be familiar at this point with the overly-optimistic tone of our AI assistants – “You’re absolutely right”, “Would you like me to condense that even further?”, “Great, this is where the fun starts” – and see it as an intangible source of information that produces content as good as real life. But what if AI actually moved from virtual reality to simply, reality? At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that’s exactly what attendees were asked to consider.
This time of year is always particularly interesting when it comes to tech, as we are able to compare the futuristic insight of CES (which ended last week) with the broader macro-trends that are presented at the World Economics Forum in Davos which is running from Monday until 23rd January. Last year, for example, the WEF looked at how AI will be used to up-skill workforces and transform economies, while CES showed in practice how generative AI and intelligent devices are becoming a more prominent part of consumers day-to-day life. Together they gave a clearer picture of how AI was interacting with the world at the beginning of 2025.
This year at CES, vendors showcased systems designed to adapt to who you are and what you need across both home and work environments. Samsung displayed its AI-enhanced kitchens, including a fridge that can open on voice command, while AR glasses got a refresh with the XREAL 1S which provides a cinema-grade experience by projecting a 171-inch spatial screen for users. As well as this, Lenovo presented a proof-of-concept of a rollable screen on a gaming laptop, meaning it can be adjusted depending on the game.
Humanoid robots were also a dominant motif of the event, performing a range of retail, hospitality and food-service tasks, from stocking shelves and serving drinks, to guiding customers through stores. AI was moving into physical spaces in exactly the way TV, books and film have predicted over the years – in the image of humans.
However, away from robots, there were other examples of how AI can integrate with the physical world without being either a brain or just there for admin. Lego’s Smart Brick System – which won Best in Show at the event – highlighted how a timeless and beloved physical product can still interact with technology. It looks exactly like a Lego brick, but inside is a custom ASIC chip which is smaller than one of the studs on a piece of Lego. It has sensors, LED lighting, a tiny speaker, and wireless connectivity, and it is designed to be integrated naturally into familiar building play, just as if it were a regular Lego brick.
But this is where it gets interesting. The brick doesn’t act alone, and instead is a responsive hub in the build, alongside regular Lego bricks which are as analogue as they have ever been, and tagged elements – 2×2 studless tiles with unique markings or designs which communicate with the Smart Brick. Using AI to detect motion, orientation, light changes, and these nearby tagged elements, it is able to react with appropriate sound and light effects based on how the bricks and tagged elements are assembled and moved. For example, a vehicle can emit engine sounds as you move it, or a character can trigger effects when placed in a certain context. And bonus point – there are no screens.
Over the years there has been some conversation around whether tech dilutes traditional open-ended play. On the one hand, academics have argued that removing unstructured play and imagination can impact social-emotional outcomes, whilst others disagree, instead saying that digital play should be part of the ‘play ecology’ as it augments traditional role play. The study “Screen time at age 1 year and communication and problem-solving developmental delay at 2 and 4 years” found that children who have greater daily screen time at age one are more likely to see a negative impact on their social interaction skills, however when that time has been limited and is also interactive with caregivers, it doesn’t have an effect.
Could this debate be telling us that, rather than spiralling towards ChatGPT CEO, Sam Altman’s recent assessment that “AI will probably lead to the end of the world”, AI may instead bring humans back together, creating space for a more physical and social world?
This would be a notable change because trust in AI remains low. A 2025 YouGov survey found 77% of Americans believed AI could pose a threat to humanity, while a UK poll reported 38% of respondents said a lack of trust around AI content as well as data privacy and ethical concerns was a barrier to adoption. With many more concerned than excited about AI’s growing presence, and only 31% of Americans saying they trusted businesses to use AI responsibly, it seems clear that feelings from consumers around this type of technology varies dramatically from the way businesses and governments hope to use it. Behind a screen, it feels scary enough that many are anxious of genuine harm.
But could Lego be the exact contrast to these fears? It brings with it more than 90 years of trust and is ranked as one of the world’s most reputable companies. It is not associated with social media, advertising models or opaque algorithms and is already embedded in millions of homes around the world as a safe, creative and largely screen-free form of play. By introducing AI through something so familiar, Lego is not asking families to accept an entirely new and unknown technology. It is instead enhancing something that is already there.
“AI will almost certainly remain intangible in many contexts – in software, in the cloud, in the background of our digital lives. But perhaps it will also become tangible, unobtrusively upgrading the physical things that already exist rather than replacing them.”
So maybe there’s another way of thinking about AI. Much of today’s discourse treats it as a kind of emerging brain – something that talks, reasons, answers questions and, increasingly, seems to compete with human intelligence. Lego has taken a different approach. Here, AI is not a mind but a material; a building block that responds to what the child is doing without directing, or taking control. With no cameras or need for personal data, it feels innocent in a way AI often doesn’t.
If this is where we are heading with toys, it raises a much broader question about where we might be heading with everything else. Could AI become something that lives quietly inside physical objects, enriching them without pulling us back to a screen? Could it sit inside furniture, tools, clothing or household items, making them more responsive and useful without turning them into gadgets that demand constant attention?
AI is still a huge unknown and is changing every day. But this innovation from Lego puts a new spin on how it might be used. AI will almost certainly remain intangible in many contexts – in software, in the cloud, in the background of our digital lives. But perhaps it will also become tangible, unobtrusively upgrading the physical things that already exist rather than replacing them. And maybe, AI doesn’t always have to be so serious. After all, we’re not living in The Matrix just yet.
