China's new AI products took the spotlight at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, in the U.S. city of Las Vegas.
The annual event officially kicked off in Las Vegas on Tuesday and will run through Friday.
At the show, a floor-cleaning robot created by a Chinese company impressed international visitors. The robot is equipped with a mechanical arm on top that can recognize socks, slippers, toys and other objects on the floor through the AI algorithms. It can then pick them up and move to a designated location to drop them off.
"Previously, it could only work on the ground, but now it can clean up in three-dimensional space. This is a big step forward for the whole cleaning field," said Quan Gang, president of Roborock Technology Company.
"The foldable arm is going to be a game changer, picking up my dog's toys, socks, paper towels, things like that, anything gets on the floor. I can't wait to have that option to just have my robot go and pick up things. It's a great time saver," said a customer named Melissa.
A tech company based in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, brought its smart gym facilities to the show. The product can recognize more than 300 movements, and its AI algorithm can automatically adjust the resistance according to the user's physical condition.
"Our weight comes from motors, not just wheels, so the whole output will be more precise and the data you get more professional," said Ray Wang, Influencer Marketer of Speediance Company.
Many Chinese exhibitors at CES 2025 have been awarded CES Innovation Awards.
Chinese AI products take spotlight at CES 2025 in Las Vegas
Chinese AI products take spotlight at CES 2025 in Las Vegas
The African Union (AU) and its partners have warned that the ongoing Middle East conflict poses a "serious risk" to African economies.
In a recent joint policy brief, the AU, the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, and the UN Development Program warned that the longer the conflict lasts and the more severe the disruption of shipping routes, energy, and fertilizer supplies, the greater the risk of a significant growth slowdown across Africa.
With most African countries still growing at rates below pre-COVID levels, the brief projected a 0.2 percentage-point decline in Africa's gross domestic product growth in 2026 if the conflict lasts more than six months.
The organizations stressed that the conflict, which has already triggered a trade shock, could quickly become a "cost-of-living crisis" due to higher fuel and food prices. Rising shipping costs, insurance premiums, exchange rate pressures, and tighter fiscal conditions could further compound the crisis, with vulnerable households bearing the heaviest burden.
The Middle East accounts for 15.8 percent of Africa's imports and 10.9 percent of its exports, underscoring the critical implications of the current situation for African economies, according to the brief.
Highlighting that the fertilizer channel may prove more consequential than oil shocks for some countries, the brief noted that disruptions to Gulf liquid natural gas supply would affect ammonia and urea production, raising fertilizer costs during the crucial March-to-May planting season.
It warned that the phenomenon will put further upward pressure on food prices and hit vulnerable households hardest, with significant negative impacts on food security in Africa.
Expressing concern over potential geopolitical spillover effects that could reshape Africa's security, it also warned that a wider conflict could intensify competition for influence in Africa, with regional conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, and Libya already reflecting external sponsorship.
The brief emphasized the importance of strengthening energy security, safeguarding and restoring fiscal space, accelerating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and establishing financial safety nets across Africa as essential strategies for building resilience.
African leading organizations warn Middle East conflict poses "serious risk" to African economies
