Samsung is ‘working so hard’ to bring generative AI to Bixby, exec says

Ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series launch earlier this year, rumour had it the company would revamp its Bixby voice assistant with generative AI. Despite the various Galaxy AI announcements Samsung made, Bixby was left behind — but that doesn’t mean it was forgotten.

A recent CNBC interview with Won-joon Choi, executive vice president at Samsung’s mobile business, revealed that the company is working to add generative AI to Bixby.

“With the emergence of generative AI and LLM (large language model) technology, I believe that we have to redefine the role of the Bixby, so that Bixby could be equipped with generative AI and become more smarter in the future,” Choi told CNBC.

He added that bringing generative AI to Bixby will “enable a more natural conversation and to work out an interface that supports the Samsung products in our ecosystem.”

Choi didn’t share a timeline for the features release, saying only that Samsung is “working so hard” to make it happen.

Samsung launched Bixby in 2017 alongside the Galaxy S8 smartphone. Bixby has similar capabilities to most voice assistants, allowing users to control aspects of their smartphone, perform translations, or ask questions and look up information. However, Bixby hasn’t caught on as extensively in North America as it has in other regions, with Google Assistant generally being the preferred option on Android devices.

With the advent of generative AI and LLMs, there’s been notable hype around tech companies integrating the technology with voice assistants. The main benefit seems to be improved conversational abilities, with LLMs able to better mimic natural language compared to existing voice assistants. Google has already started down that path with Gemini, and Apple is expected to announce some generative AI enhancements to Siri at WWDC in June.

Source: CNBC Via: Android Police