LEGO at CES: How Smart Play Signals the Future of Creativity in an AI-Driven World

Live from Las Vegas with Tom Donaldson, SVP & Head of Creative Play Lab, LEGO Group

CES has always been shorthand for the future. Screens get sharper, chips get faster, software gets smarter. Historically, it hasn’t been shorthand for toys—especially not physical, analog ones. Yet this year in Las Vegas, one of the most quietly ambitious announcements came from a brand best known for plastic bricks rather than silicon wafers.

Live at CES, I sat down with Tom Donaldson, Senior Vice President and Head of Creative Play Lab at LEGO Group, to unpack LEGO Smart Play—a new system that adds responsiveness, sound, light, and physical feedback to the LEGO brick universe without abandoning what made LEGO iconic in the first place.

What followed was less a product interview and more a conversation about creativity, resilience, leadership, and what matters in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Why LEGO Chose CES—and Why That Matters

At first glance, CES might seem like an odd venue for LEGO. The brand is synonymous with hands-on, imagination-led play, not convention halls filled with software demos and hardware roadmaps. That’s exactly why LEGO chose this moment.

Smart Play is not a single toy launch. It’s the introduction of what Donaldson described as a “new dimension” in the LEGO system of play. The decision to debut it at Consumer Electronics Show signals something larger: LEGO sees physical play as a frontier of innovation, not a relic of the past.

This wasn’t about chasing trends. It was about redefining what physical play can become when thoughtfully enhanced by technology.

What Is LEGO Smart Play?

At the center of Smart Play is a deceptively simple object: a standard 2x4 LEGO brick. Inside that familiar form lives a dense array of sensors, audio capabilities, lights, and detection systems that recognize movement, color, nearby elements, tags, and minifigures.

The result is a brick that responds dynamically to how kids play.

Build a car, and it becomes a vehicle with an engine that revs faster as it moves faster. Skid it around a corner, and the sound changes. Build a creature, and it growls, chirps, or reacts based on how it’s handled. The sounds aren’t canned effects—they’re generated in real time, synthesized in response to play.

This distinction matters. LEGO isn’t telling kids what a creation is supposed to be. The system reacts to what the child decides it is.

That design choice reflects a core philosophy: technology should amplify imagination, not replace it.

A New Layer, Not a Pivot

One of the most revealing parts of the conversation was how Donaldson framed Smart Play internally. LEGO does not see this as a shift away from traditional bricks. Instead, it’s an added layer—similar to the introduction of the minifigure decades ago.

Minifigures didn’t change how bricks worked. They expanded what was possible on top of them. Smart Play follows the same logic. Existing LEGO models don’t lose relevance. They gain responsiveness.

This distinction is subtle but strategically significant. Many legacy brands struggle with innovation because they treat new technology as a replacement rather than an extension. LEGO has learned—sometimes the hard way—that evolution works best when it respects the core experience.

How LEGO Builds Conviction Before It Ships

Smart Play wasn’t greenlit overnight. Donaldson described a development process that unfolded over many years, with conviction built slowly and methodically.

Testing happened in layers:

• Weekly, iterative play sessions with kids

• Long-term in-home trials where families lived with sets for months without supervision

• Continuous evaluation of not just engagement, but how play evolved over time

The goal wasn’t novelty. It was longevity. LEGO wanted to see whether kids returned to their creations, discovered new behaviors, and stayed curious.

Early on, leadership had to sell a vision before results were obvious. In those moments, Donaldson relies on a principle that comes up repeatedly in innovation-led organizations: prototype the magic.

When people can feel something special—even in low-resolution form—it becomes easier to justify the long road ahead.

Why Adults Are One of LEGO’s Fastest-Growing Segments

One data point that surprised many observers is that LEGO’s adult audience is growing faster than its child audience. Donaldson views this less as a trend and more as delayed recognition.

For decades, LEGO offered something many adults didn’t realize they were missing: tactile, focused, physical creativity. In a world dominated by screens, building becomes a way to slow down, concentrate, and think spatially.

This speaks to a broader consumer shift. As digital life accelerates, physical experiences that demand attention—rather than fragment it—gain new value.

LEGO didn’t change to attract adults. Adults changed, and LEGO was already there.

Creativity in the Age of AI

As someone who speaks globally about AI’s impact on work and culture, I was particularly interested in Donaldson’s take on creativity as automation advances.

His view is refreshingly grounded. He doesn’t see AI as intelligence in the human sense. He sees it as access—access to accumulated human knowledge and patterns. Powerful, yes. But directionless without human intent.

As AI becomes better at predictable tasks, unpredictability becomes more valuable. That’s where creativity lives.

Donaldson believes AI can strengthen creativity rather than weaken it by shortening the distance between idea and manifestation. When people can prototype faster, their ideas evolve faster. The role of the creator shifts from execution to judgment, taste, and direction.

In that future, more people become creative directors. The open question is whether education and culture will help them grow into that role.

Creativity Isn’t Writing the Brief—It’s Refining the Outcome

One of the most nuanced moments in the conversation came when we discussed the idea that creativity might shrink into “just writing prompts” as AI tools improve.

Donaldson pushed back. While idea generation becomes easier, discernment becomes harder. The creative edge lies in knowing what’s almost right—and making it right.

That requires domain knowledge, attention to detail, and experience. Creativity doesn’t disappear. It migrates.

This framing is particularly relevant for industries like advertising, design, and media, where production barriers are falling fast but differentiation is getting harder.

Education, Curiosity, and the Limits of Memorization

Our discussion naturally turned to education. Traditional systems still reward memorization and repetition—skills AI now performs effortlessly. Creativity, curiosity, and problem framing remain harder to automate.

Donaldson emphasized growth mindset over static knowledge. Learning how to learn matters more than retaining information. AI can help here by reducing friction—freeing educators to focus on inspiration rather than administration.

LEGO’s role, while not explicitly educational, intersects with this shift. Play teaches experimentation, failure, and iteration long before those concepts become professional skills.

A Meandering Career—and Why That’s an Advantage

Donaldson’s own career defies linear planning. He started in deep tech and AI in the late 1990s, worked across startups and consumer electronics, and eventually found his way to LEGO.

What drew him in wasn’t the technology. It was purpose. LEGO offered a chance to combine invention with values and long-term impact.

That background shapes how he leads today. His role is less about hands-on tinkering and more about building culture—creating teams that feel safe taking risks where outcomes aren’t binary.

In toys, there’s no clear pass or fail. There’s only “loved” or “almost loved.” That ambiguity raises the stakes for leadership.

What LEGO Looks for in Future Leaders

When asked what he looks for in emerging leaders, Donaldson focused on three traits:

Curiosity beyond one’s own domain. Teams break down when experts stop asking questions outside their specialty. Collaboration thrives when people stay genuinely interested in perspectives they don’t fully understand.

Resilience. Meaningful work often leads to dead ends. The ability to invest months—or years—without guaranteed payoff is rare and valuable.

Values. People who care about the impact of their work tend to build more durable careers and stronger teams.

One of the most relatable metaphors came from a parenting moment: a child builds a LEGO castle, another child knocks it down, and the only option is to rebuild—often better than before. That loop is resilience in its earliest form.

Boredom as a Creative Tool

In an era of constant stimulation, Donaldson made an unexpected case for boredom. Some of his best ideas emerge when external input drops away—long walks, quiet moments, showers.

Creativity needs space. Endless scrolling fills that space with noise. Finding personal rituals that quiet the world remains essential, especially for younger generations raised on highlight reels.

LEGO, Star Wars, and the Power of Shared Vision

Smart Play launches first within LEGO Star Wars, one of the company’s longest-running partnerships. Donaldson credited its success to aligned values: a shared commitment to storytelling, innovation, and quality.

Strong partnerships work the same way strong teams do. Mutual trust and ambition matter more than short-term wins. After 25 years, LEGO Star Wars remains a case study in how IP collaboration can deepen rather than dilute a brand.

Robotics, Physical AI, and What Comes Next

Walking the CES floor, Donaldson was most curious about two emerging areas: quantum computing and physical robotics. After years dominated by software AI, attention is shifting back to the physical world.

The question of whether LEGO creations could one day “talk back” isn’t science fiction. The real question is why and how. For LEGO, the child must remain an active participant—not a passive observer.

Technology should respond to imagination, not replace it.

“Magic Works in Low Resolution”

To close the conversation, Donaldson shared a mantra that neatly captures LEGO’s innovation ethos: magic works in low resolution.

You can feel something special long before it’s polished. The trick is recognizing that spark early and having the conviction to carry it through skepticism, failure, and refinement.

Whether you’re building with bricks, code, or ideas, that instinct—combined with resilience—often determines who finishes the journey.

LEGO Smart Play isn’t about making toys smarter. It’s about protecting something increasingly rare: hands-on creativity in a world optimized for efficiency.

In a year dominated by conversations about AI replacing work, LEGO showed up at CES to make a quieter case—that the future belongs to those who can imagine, build, rebuild, and believe in the magic before anyone else sees it.

That lesson extends far beyond the toy aisle.