OTHER INCOME (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Associated companies	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Total other income	1,625	4,005	2,227
Net gains on asset sales	59	101	90
NBCU
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Tax settlement			450
Electrolux
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Break-up fee			175
Water Business
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases and sales of business interests	1,943
Water Business \| Business Restructuring Reserve
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Valuation allowance on businesses classified as held for sale	1,378
Appliances
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases and sales of business interests		3,136
GE Asset Management
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases and sales of business interests		398
Signaling
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases and sales of business interests			623
GE
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchases and sales of business interests	656	3,701	1,020
Licensing and royalty income	193	175	168
Associated companies	202	76	45
Net interest and investment income	299	167	65
Other items	86	(27)	868
Total other income	1,436	4,092	2,165
Eliminations
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Total other income	$ 189	$ (87)	$ 62

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Gain (loss) related to the termination of a contract between the parties. The termination may be due to many causes including early termination of a lease by a lessee, a breach of contract by one party, or a failure to perform.

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Amount of gain (loss) on sale or disposal of assets, including but not limited to property plant and equipment, intangible assets and equity in securities of subsidiaries or equity method investee.

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Amount of gain (loss) from the difference between the sale price or salvage price and the book value of an asset that was sold or retired, and gain (loss) from the write down of assets from their carrying value to fair value.

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This item represents the entity's proportionate share for the period of the net income (loss) of its investee (such as unconsolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures) to which the equity method of accounting is applied. This item includes income or expense related to stock-based compensation based on the investor's grant of stock to employees of an equity method investee.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Amount after accretion (amortization) of discount (premium), and investment expense, of interest income and dividend income on nonoperating securities.

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Revenue earned during the period relating to consideration received from another party for the right to use, but not own, certain of the entity's intangible assets. Licensing arrangements include, but are not limited to, rights to use a patent, copyright, technology, manufacturing process, software or trademark. Licensing fees are generally, but not always, fixed as to amount and not dependent upon the revenue generated by the licensing party. An entity may receive licensing fees for licenses that also generate royalty payments to the entity.

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Amount of increase (decrease) to previously recorded tax expense. Includes, but is not limited to, significant settlements of income tax disputes, and unusual tax positions or infrequent actions taken by the entity, including tax assessment reversal, and IRS tax settlement.

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Total of allowances and reserves, the valuation and qualifying accounts that are either netted against the cost of an asset (in order to value it at its carrying value) or that reflect a liability established to represent expected future costs.

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