A lot of CES 2026 was about how to make robots more human

Over the years, AI has evolved beyond just screens and speakers, and is now embedded in nearly everything people do.

But human and emotional connection within AI cut across the various tracks at the biggest technology mixer of the year. Vendors in AI robotics showcased systems that adapt to who you are and what you need across home and work environments. So, learning about people and making AI more personalized in retail and tech was front and center at CES.

It was easy to spot AI’s expansion into every corner of life—from wearables and smart homes to customer engagement—on the CES show floor.

In fact, Retail Brew spotted humanoid robots performing various retail and food related tasks. One robot developed by AI robotics company Sharpa played blackjack, xBot showcased an AI-powered coffee-making robot, and Paxini featured an advanced AI humanoid robot making ice cream.

Another standout human touch at CES 2026? Creators. In a sea of AI, they’re the trusted shopping sidekicks people still turn to when deciding what to buy. Yet another theme was reinventing physical retail to make it worth the visit. The brick and mortar business, which has been declared dead several times since the pandemic, is still relevant, but the next generation of physical stores has to feel like something out of a movie to lure shoppers in.

“Constantly, technology is changing, and it’s always in service of humans and consumers and needs, and so while what’s on the floor or who’s on the stage might look slightly different, I think what underlies it is this amazing human drive to create technology that changes the world,” Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy, shared during her appearance onstage on Tuesday.

Stores are important: A decade ago, 15% of Best Buy’s business was digital, Barry noted. Now it’s over 30%, and nearly half of Best Buy’s online orders are picked up in-store. The physical retail experience has transformed dramatically, and the future demands even higher standards for in-store experiences that are truly experiential.

“So the experience of the physicality has changed phenomenally,” Barry said. “I think the future is much more experiential, much higher standards for what that in-store physical experience feels like.”

Barry said consumers still want someone who will listen to them and solve their problems in a human way: “AI at its most human is a partnership with a person.”

​​Yet, paradoxically, some companies are betting robots can fulfill those deep-seated human needs.

Take Zeroth, a subsidiary of China-based Suzhou JoyIn Intelligent Technology, which specializes in robotics and AI development and applications. The company displayed a new robot called “M1” created for human companionship.

Not surprisingly, Matt Harker, VP for consumer experience transformation at the Clorox Company, said this year’s CES felt like the future has arrived faster than expected. “So you’re having to reset what the future is,” he said.

Harker added that robots and AI are not here to take away what makes us human. “Humanity is what we are,” Harker said. “So, I think all these things are more about enriching the humanity; they’re not about removing the humanity.”

Creators become word of mouth: Regardless of which track attendees flocked to, “creators” became an overused term across retailer, marketer, and tech circles, as execs discussed the evolution of creator relationships thanks to AI.

“What’s great to see is that creators are still a big part of the conversation at CES, and [while] all the technology companies are talking about AI, it’s also how do creators fit into that?” TalkShopLive CEO Sandie Hawkins told Retail Brew on the sidelines of her session on live shopping. “Because people want to see authentic, real content.”

Hawkins—formerly at TikTok Shop, which she helped launch in the US—said creators are quickly becoming experts people rely on to shop for the things they care about. “And that’s why social commerce is so powerful, and that’s what live shopping does,” Hawkins said during the panel.

Hawkins said creators could use AI to figure out which parts of what they’re saying in real time are the most engaging.

Overall, John Andrews, co-founder and CEO at Cimulate, which builds LLM-based operating systems for retailers, said, “There’s been nothing—social, mobile, any of that—that has had as big an impact as what’s happening with AI right now. If I think about my world from a commerce perspective, shopping and a retail perspective, what is possible now with this technology just completely changes the game.”