CES 2025: X CEO Linda Yaccarino touts holy grail feature as AI-powered robots, gadgets dominate show floor
LAS VEGAS – X CEO Linda Yaccarino took center stage at Tuesday’s opening day of CES 2025 — where throngs of tech geeks swarmed to see the latest AI-powered robots, software, drones and more.Yaccarino boasted that the Elon Musk-owned social media platform was heading into 2025 at a “breakneck speed” during her featured keynote address at the multi-day event, organized by the Consumer Technology Association.In her sit-down with keynote host Catherine Herridge — the award-winning investigative journalist fired by CBS News last year — Yaccarino touted a “holy grail” advertising-focused feature called “Trend Genius.”The software automatically boosts ad campaigns on X when they are linked to a trending topic – such as an LVMH partnership with actress Zendaya that surged during the Golden Globes.“It is something only X can do,” said Yaccarino, who said X has “rolled out and shipped more than 250 product innovations” since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.The feature was beta tested within the last several months, she added.Yaccarino was interviewed just hours after rival Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would abandon its widely-criticized fact-checking in favor of an X-style “community notes” feature.“Mark, Meta – welcome to the party,” Yaccarino quipped.She was also asked about Musk’s new role alongside Vivek Ramaswamy as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and whether it would affect X.“I don’t think there’s two better people than Elon and Vivek to do that,” Yaccarino said.“As Americans, we should all be rooting for the overwhelming success of Doge.
I would expect other countries to follow.”Elsewhere at the world’s biggest trade show, tech policy experts faced off in a heated debate about whether antitrust enforcement playing out in Washington DC is helping or hurting innovation.Luther Lowe, a major Google critic and head of public policy at startup-focused Y Comb...