Samsung could integrate generative artificial intelligence technology into its voice assistant Bixby, as disclosed by a senior executive of the company, as part of Samsung’s efforts to enrich the appeal of its products.
Bixby made its debut in 2017 alongside Samsung’s Galaxy S8 smartphone, offering a variety of features such as real-time translations and restaurant suggestions.
While traditional voice assistants have primarily functioned by responding to user queries, the terrain has evolved with the advancement of chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar technologies.
These modern chatbots, powered by generative AI, possess the capability to tackle more intricate inquiries, presenting responses in text, images, and now even videos.
Samsung’s Bixby is omnipresent across the company’s range of devices, spanning from smartphones and smartwatches to household appliances. The company views Bixby as a pivotal tool for users to manage their devices seamlessly within their homes.
So far, Bixby has not possessed the capabilities of ChatGPT.
Like many smartphone manufacturers, Samsung aims to imbue its devices with more advanced AI functionalities. Alongside its latest S24 series of smartphones, the company introduced new features with Galaxy AI.
Among these is an option allowing users to select an item on their screens and search for it on Google seamlessly, without needing to switch between apps.
The technology giant is gearing up to enhance its AI capabilities with Bixby.
“Bixby has served as a primary voice assistant for Samsung, not only for mobile devices but also for TVs and digital appliances within Samsung’s ecosystem. It has been the core voice assistant thus far,” stated Won-Joon Choi, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, during an interview with CNBC last month.
“With the emergence of generative AI and LLM (large language model) technology, I believe that we need to redefine Bixby’s role, enabling it to leverage generative AI and evolve into a smarter assistant in the future,” Choi remarked.
He added that this evolution would facilitate more natural conversations and support Samsung’s ecosystem products through an enhanced interface.
Choi refrained from providing a specific timeline for when Bixby might receive generative AI features but emphasized that Samsung is diligently working towards their implementation.
Samsung’s emphasis on this technology coincides with heightened investor interest in Apple’s forthcoming developments in generative AI.
Apple recently announced its annual developers conference, WWDC, scheduled for June, where it is anticipated to showcase AI features across its product lineup.
