Lenovo CEO says 'Nobody can avoid' AI after CES keynote

Following Lenovo’s keynote at The Sphere during CES 2026, CEO Yang Yuanqing told Mashable that “Nobody can avoid it” when asked what he would say to AI skeptics as the company unveiled a personal AI assistant called Qira and a new line of AI laptops and devices.

AI has been the dominant theme at CES, with companies including Lenovo showing wearables like the Project Maxwell concept that will “see and hear everything you see and hear” and promoting AI integration across smartphones, laptops, TVs and home appliances. Yang said, “AI will not replace you; it will only empower you,” and CTO Tolga Kurtoglu added, “I don’t see a world without AI,” while stressing the company’s focus on responsible AI development, guardrails and compliance with privacy and security rules.

Lenovo repeatedly framed Qira and its AI tools as opt-in; Kurtoglu said, “If you want to participate and get the value-add[ed] that AI brings to you, you opt in.” At the same time, Mashable noted that as AI is integrated into more hardware, opting out may be complicated, and Lenovo says AI PCs will account for 70 percent of the global market by 2028. Yang also downplayed concerns of an AI bubble, saying, “We believe AI is not a bubble.”

Key Topics

Tech, Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, Qira, Tolga Kurtoglu, Project Maxwell