HR Brew heads to CES, eyeing the new ways tech and AI could change people work

While many are still tinkering with new tech gadgets gifted to them during the holiday season by technophiles near and dear to their hearts, HR Brew is planning to ring in the new year in the tech deep end a little differently. We’re headed to the 2025 CES conference in Las Vegas with the Brew Crew.

CES is one of the biggest tech conferences in the US. (Last year’s event, which spanned multiple locations and venues, attracted a crowd of 142,465—that’s more than five times that of SHRM’s annual HR conference event.) The event is set to be filled with business leaders, industry analysts, and policymakers, all focused on new and emerging technologies and their practical applications.

HR Brew will tap into the pulse from Jan. 5–9, clocking keynotes, sessions, and expo exhibits that feature the latest tech innovations or platforms showing up at work. We’re focused on AI (surprise, surprise), the future of work, and policies shaping AI’s governance and how businesses are staying compliant in a rapidly transforming world.

We’ll be looking out for new HR technology that might change work or impact how HR pros perform their jobs. We’ve got our eye on a few categories, broadly speaking, that may pay the most dividends for the tech-savvy HR pro (or otherwise), like yourself.

What’s next for AI? One key feature of workplace and HR technology in 2025 was an emphasis on AI. Most new features and platforms developed and released in 2025 mentioned the buzzy technology. AI and its emerging capabilities will be on full display in Las Vegas this year. It might feel like nearly every business is using technology to change the way work gets done, so HR Brew will work to separate the value from the hype.

The skills and strengths needed to participate in the AI-powered economy are seemingly changing, and we’ll talk with experts, researchers, and innovators shaping how the workforce is preparing itself and how companies are aiding in their employees’ development.

Enterprise tech and the future of work. We’re also curious how new and emerging technologies are shaping how we work and who performs it. In a not-so-distant future, human employees and AI agents working seamlessly together may be the business norm rather than a buzzy “what if” headline. From the conference and trade show floor, we’re looking to get a sense of how AI, agents, digital twins, and other automations are upending how work gets done.

We expect some interesting conversations with technologists and startup founders rethinking work and reimagining which tasks belong to who. AI has made huge leaps in the world of data and ones and zeros, but emerging physical AI can better interact with the real world, and we’re curious how physical AI changes the story. Stay tuned.

AI policy. Compliance pros, rest assured, we know AI governance and compliance is a hot topic. Many policy and business leaders have pointed to the patchwork quilt of AI regulation across the US and the accompanying headaches it can create. States like California, Colorado, and Texas, among others, already have AI laws on the books, but it’s so far radio silence on Capitol Hill.

Joining the large swatch of people who make and buoy emerging technologies like AI will be lawmakers and policy wonks eager to talk about how to regulate it. We’re listening.

Expo exhibits. Organizers are predicting more than 4,500 exhibitors on the expo floor, including more than 1,500 startups, will participate in the conference expo. Equipped with the most comfortable gym shoes, we’ll bee-line it straight to the vendors with HR and work tech that HR Brew readers might find useful.