When I asked Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing what he’d say to AI skeptics at CES 2026, where AI has been a constant topic of conversation, he summed it up simply: “Nobody can avoid it.”
Last night, at a live keynote event at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Lenovo leaders announced a personal AI assistant called Qira designed to work across Lenovo and Motorola devices, along with a new line of futuristic AI laptops and devices. Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence has been the dominant theme at CES 2026, with companies like Lenovo and Samsung outlining a vision of a future in which AI is integrated into every aspect of our lives, from sunrise to sunset.
AI wearables, like the concept Project Maxwell AI wearable Lenovo announced at CES, will see and hear everything you see and hear to better assist you. Meanwhile, AI will be integrated across every device. CES has brought us AI smartphones, AI laptops, AI TVs, AI washing machines — AI, essentially, everything.
The morning after the Lenovo Tech World Event at The Sphere, I got the chance to participate in a question-and-answer session with Yang and Lenovo’s Chief Technology Officer, Tolga Kurtoglu. So, I asked them what they would say to AI skeptics.
What about the consumers who don’t want AI to see and hear everything they do? Who don’t want an AI washing machine or refrigerator?
“I strongly believe AI will be the trend,” Yang said. “Nobody can avoid it. But AI will not replace you; it will only empower you, empower each of us, so that is why we think utilization will help you so that you can do more, be more creative. So that will be the trend that you cannot avoid.”
Kurtoglu also had a blunt answer: “I don’t see a world without AI.”
Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing and Chief Technology Officer Tolga Kurtoglu speak to the media at CES 2026.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable
However, Kurtoglu also emphasized the importance of responsible AI development in Lenovo’s approach.
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“One of the fundamental principles with which we develop AI is our belief in responsible AI. Of course, there are guardrails and very strict processes that we follow as a company as we build our own AI. And then globally and locally, there are regulations and compliance requirements about privacy and security and other things that we follow very strictly,” Kurtoglu said.
Check out the full list of Best of CES 2026 finalists, as selected by CNET Group, here.
Likewise, Lenovo stressed the opt-in nature of Qira and its AI tools repeatedly during its keynote at The Sphere, and Kurtoglu echoed this sentiment to Mashable. “If you want to participate and get the value-add[ed] that AI brings to you, you opt in, and you give your permission, and then you get what the AI enables for you. Otherwise, if you don’t want to participate, of course, it’s all up to you. We’re going to continue to follow our strong belief in responsible AI development.”
However, as AI gets integrated into virtually all types of hardware, opting out isn’t so simple. Lenovo itself states that AI PCs will account for 70 percent of the global market by 2028. Laptops and smartphones are following a similar trend, although not all consumers share the same enthusiasm for AI as industry leaders. In a recent survey, CNET found that just 11 percent of smartphone users upgrade their devices because they want to take advantage of new AI tools. (Disclosure: CNET and Mashable are both owned by Ziff Davis.)
During the media Q&A, Yang also addressed concerns that we’re approaching an AI bubble, downplaying these concerns.
“We believe AI is not a bubble,” Yang said. “The demand will be booming, so everybody will have their personal AI, and every enterprise will need to leverage their data to generate intelligence. So, the demand is just beginning. It’s not a bubble at all.”
Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.
