Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro discusses what's new at CES and how the technology is impacting the way we work on the WorkingNation Work in Progress podcast
Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro discusses what's new at CES and how the technology is impacting the way we work on the WorkingNation Work in Progress podcast

CES 2025: AI is transforming the workforce, but it’s not the only tech we should be watching

A conversation with Gary Shapiro, CEO & Vice Chairman, Consumer Technology Association
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In this episode of Work in Progress, we check in from CES 2025 in Las Vegas, “the world’s largest tech event.” Guest Gary Shapiro, Consumer Technology Association (CTA) CEO and vice chairman, says AI remains the buzz word at this year’s CES and he discusses the impact artificial intelligence and other emerging tech will continue to have on the workforce.

“AI has been around for many, many, many years. It flies 95% of the flights we take on airplanes. What changed a little over a year and a half ago was this shift to ChatGPT where anyone with a computer could actually use generative AI that could learn from databases, so the potential is huge,” says Shapiro.

He says this evolution of AI is being rapidly adapted into all industries, from manufacturing to health care to marketing. For workers, this means some tasks will be automated.

“A lot of companies jumped on it and they figured out that a lot of the reports they pay a lot of people to do could be written in a matter of hours with just some simple programming and databases, and you’ll get analysis if you fed in the prior reports.”

But, Shapiro adds, AI is also creating new opportunities for creativity and innovation and you can see it in products on display at CES.

“Those kinds of things are changing the workforce and what some people do, and it’s freed them up to do other higher-level things rather than prepare similar reports all the time.”

My conversation with Shapiro also explores the importance of preparing the American workforce for these technological changes through STEM education, workforce development programs, and policies that enable alternative pathways to careers beyond traditional four-year college degrees.

Shapiro emphasizes the need to balance regulating AI while not stifling innovation that can improve people’s lives.

“I’m excited about AI, but I also understand legitimate concerns. There is a natural fear that we have as human beings when things change. But things are always changing, and that’s always been the case. What’s made humans survive is our adaptability to new situations. We keep improving.”

In the podcast, Shapiro highlights some of the other tech innovation you can see at CES and its role in our lives and workplace.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find our podcasts on the Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 346: Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chairman, Consumer Technology Association
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.